Blazing Summer (Darling Investigations Book 2)

by Denise Grover Swank

  “Because you couldn’t handle your guilt.” Then it hit me. “She just found out. That’s why she ended it with you.”

  “I told her the truth.” He bit his lip, then released a chuckle. “You know what’s funny? I didn’t give a shit about her before the fire. I thought I was cool for screwing Teddy Baumgartner’s little sister.”

  “He would beat the shit out of you if he heard you say that.”

  A grin lit up his face, but his eyes were dead. He wiggled his fingers at me. “Tell him to come at me.”

  The sick part was he probably wanted Teddy to beat the shit out of him.

  Then a new thought hit me. “Who else knows about Troy starting the fire? Who else would try to protect your secret?”

  Trent opened his mouth, about to speak, when I heard Elijah Sterling behind me. “Don’t you dare answer that question, Dunbar.”

  I pivoted to see Elijah walking toward us, his face screwed up with determination and loathing. “Well, well, well,” he said. “Summer Butler’s paying Trent a call. Lookin’ for your slut of a cousin?”

  My shock that he knew Dixie was missing quickly morphed into anger.

  “That’s right.” He laughed, then stopped in front of me. “You may have gotten me suspended, but I still know what’s goin’ on in this town. And when I get back on the force, you better watch your back, little Summer.” He lifted his hand to my face, stroking a finger down my cheek.

  I slapped his hand away, and his face turned red.

  “Back off, Elijah,” Trent said, sounding pissed.

  “That’s right, Elijah,” I said. “Back off.” I gave Elijah’s chest a hard shove, and he stumbled backward.

  Elijah wasn’t even close to backing off. He closed the distance between us and lifted a hand to slap me.

  I dropped to a crouch, then brought up my fist into his crotch.

  He doubled over as I fell back onto my butt and scrambled backward. I was sure I didn’t look very badass, but it got the job done. Not too bad after only a few self-defense lessons.

  I stood and brushed off my dress, then walked over to him. “Next time I say back off, maybe you’ll listen.”

  “I’m gonna make you pay, Summer,” he wheezed out, still doubled over.

  “Talk is cheap, Elijah. I’m not scared of you.” I turned around and walked over to my sandals, scooping them up by the back straps. When I rose, I faced a still-stunned Trent. “If you see Dixie, will you please call me?”

  “Don’t answer her,” Elijah said, still hunched over.

  “Shut up, Elijah,” Trent sighed out.

  I started to head toward the house, but as I passed the still hunched-over Elijah, I kicked him hard in the side, toppling him over into the pool. “Yeah, shut up, Elijah.”

  I was gonna pay for that later, but for now, I was gonna gloat in taking Elijah Sterling down.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  I was already talking to Bill before I walked out the front door. “Bill, I need you to make a clip of Trent’s confession about his brother all the way through Elijah showing up.”

  An old, restored pickup truck was perpendicularly parked behind my car, blocking it in against the house and landscaping. The positioning made his intentions clear.

  That son of a bitch had known I was here, and he’d purposefully blocked me from leaving.

  Panic hit hard. “Bill!”

  “Over here.” Bill popped up to my left from behind some bushes. He balanced the laptop on his left palm and closed the lid. “I saw that guy turn in from the street and realized he’d see me in the back seat, so I snuck out and hid.”

  “Good thinking. Especially since that guy is Elijah Sterling . . . the police officer I got suspended.”

  “Oh, shit!” he gushed. “Are you okay?”

  “I am, but Elijah’s not so great, which is why we need to get out of here ASAP before he comes out to kill me.” I put my hands on my hips. “But we’re blocked in.” I walked around to the driver’s side of Elijah’s truck, surprised to find it unlocked. I glanced over the hood at Bill. “You drive my car. Be ready to take off.”

  Bill gave me a leery glance. “What are you going to do?”

  “Commit a felony.” I climbed into Elijah’s truck, realizing I didn’t have much time. “At least I think it’s a felony.”

  It was too much to hope he’d left the keys in the ignition, but I put it in neutral and then hopped out and hurried to the front of the truck.

  Bill stood next to the open driver’s door of my car—sans computer—and he quickly realized what I planned to do. We both put our hands on the still-warm grille and gave a hard shove. The truck started rolling, and it was soon pushed back far enough for my car to get out.

  “Okay,” Bill said. “Let’s go.”

  “Not yet.” I ran for the driver’s door again and got inside, turning the wheel to point the truck toward the pond. Then I jumped out, leaving the door open, and ran to the tailgate.

  “Summer . . .”

  I ignored him and pushed with all my might. The truck barely moved. Seconds later, Bill was next to me, leaning his shoulder against the tailgate.

  “Maybe it’s a misdemeanor,” he said with a wink.

  The truck began to roll.

  We grinned at each other and continued pushing. The truck picked up momentum as it started down a slight incline, heading toward the pond. When it reached the edge, we gave it one last push, shoving it over the stone edge . . . then watched as it took a nosedive into the water.

  “Oh, shit,” Bill said. “I didn’t think it was so deep.”

  I moved to the side and gasped. I’d expected it to be a shallow splash pool. This had to be more than three feet deep. “Oh. Crap. Neither did I.”

  The water was higher than the open driver’s door, and it was filling the cab up fast.

  “Crap,” I said, taking a few steps backward. “I think it’s definitely a felony.”

  “Time to go!” Bill said, running for my car. He jumped into the driver’s seat, and I ran after him, climbing into the back seat as the front door of the house burst open.

  Elijah stood in the opening, his soaked clothes dripping water, his face covered with rage.

  Trent was behind him, grabbing his arm and taking in the scene with a panicked expression of his own. “Elijah! No!”

  “Summer, you fucking bitch!” Elijah shouted. “I’m gonna kill you!”

  I suspected he wasn’t speaking figuratively. “Go!” I shouted to Bill.

  Bill backed up, tires squealing, then drove forward, taking the turn in front of the house.

  Moving right toward Elijah.

  “What are you doing?” I shouted. “Why didn’t you back up?”

  “I don’t know!” Bill shrieked, his eyes wide. “I don’t think well under pressure!”

  Elijah body-checked the rear passenger door, reaching for the handle.

  “Lock the doors!” I screamed, grabbing my purse off the floor and reaching blindly inside.

  “I don’t know where the lock button is!!” Bill screamed back.

  Bill was nearly all the way around the circle, but Elijah got the back door open.

  “Bill!”

  Wearing the face of a madman, Elijah reached for me. I knew if he grabbed ahold of me, I would be facing serious pain.

  My hand landed on a cylindrical metal tube, and I whipped it out just as Elijah’s fingers sank into the flesh of my thigh. He struggled to keep up with the car and started dragging me across the seat to the open door, probably intending to pull me out.

  “Let go!” Holding up the tube of pepper spray, I gave his chest a shove and sprayed his face, trying to keep the can by the open door.

  Surprise filled Elijah’s eyes; then he started grunting and stumbled.

  Bill reached the straight part of the driveway and punched the gas pedal. Elijah tripped, and the back door whacked him in the head as he fell.

  “Oh, my God,” Bill shouted, looking in his rearview
mirror. “Did I kill him?”

  Traces of the pepper spray lingered in the car, burning my nose and eyes, and I frantically reached for the window button.

  “Summer?” Bill screeched, realizing something was wrong. “What happened?”

  I pressed the button and stuck my head out, trying to get a glance back at Elijah, but my eyes were too teary. I doubted we’d be lucky enough to incapacitate Elijah Sterling long enough to keep him from doing us bodily harm.

  “Summer!”

  “Pepper spray,” I choked out, but I’d only gotten traces of it. It surely could have been much worse. Elijah had gotten a face full of it.

  “Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God,” Bill chanted, his hands shaking. “What do we do?”

  “Go back into town,” I shouted, my head still out the window. Thankfully the pepper spray was wearing off.

  “Trent admitted his brother killed Dixie’s family.”

  I slid back into the car and rolled up the window, then leaned my head back on the seat. “Yeah. And Elijah Sterling seemed to know all about his friend’s dirty little secret.” My family would finally have closure, but we were no closer to finding Dixie. If I was a betting woman, I’d put all my money on Trent having nothing to do with her disappearance. “Trent says he didn’t see who Dixie left with last night. I should have asked him who was still there when he noticed her missing.” I sighed. “I still have so much to learn.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Bill asked as he stopped at the country road and then took the turn toward town. “You got a hell of a lot further than anyone else has gotten.”

  “Sure, we cleared her of the past, but we still don’t know where she is.”

  “Between you and Teddy, we’ll find her.”

  I hoped he was right. “So you could hear his confession okay?”

  “Yeah. It helped that there wasn’t any wind when you went outside.”

  “And the video footage?”

  “Not the best, but usable. Especially the confession. We need to wait a few days and interview him about something trivial enough to convince him to sign a release. He might agree if you promise to leave the past out of it. He doesn’t know you were recording, and we’ll make sure the release is retroactive.” He glanced back at me. “What do you want to do with the clip you asked for? Give it to Luke?”

  “That was my plan . . . but maybe I can just hold on to it and give it to him when he comes to arrest me for vandalizing Elijah’s truck.”

  “Hey, you’ve got something on Elijah, and he’s got something on you. You can use it to your advantage. He threatened you on tape. He won’t want that to leak out.”

  I hadn’t considered that, but Bill was right. “But right now it’s my word against his. He has no idea I captured it all on video.”

  “When we get to the office, I’ll make a short clip of him threatening you, and you can text or e-mail it to him, warning that if he turns you in for damaging his truck, you’ll turn your video in to Luke and the sheriff.”

  That would clue Trent in on the camera situation, but saving my hide from Elijah seemed like the more immediate concern.

  “I don’t have his number . . .” But I knew who did. I sent Amber a text asking for Elijah’s cell number. I expected to have to coerce her into it, but she was taking her job as my secret informant seriously. She sent it within seconds. “Amber gave me his number, and I take the fact that she didn’t mention my vandalism to mean he hasn’t turned me in yet.”

  “He might bypass Luke and go right to the sheriff,” Bill said.

  Crap. He was right. “I’m gonna send him a text letting him know I have video, and I’ll hold on to it for now. No mention of his truck.”

  “Oh! That’s good. Then it’s not blackmail.”

  Agreed. No reason to add to my list of charges. I took a deep breath and composed a text to Elijah, figuring out a way to keep Trent from knowing about the hidden camera footage.

  I have proof of you attacking me, but for now I’m keeping it to myself.

  He didn’t answer, but then again, he might be getting a milk bath to clear out his eyes.

  “What do you want to do about the confession?” Bill asked.

  “Good question . . . Let me tell Teddy. Maybe it will give him some clue about what’s goin’ on now. I can’t help but think they’re connected.”

  I sent Teddy a text. I’m headed back into town and got lots of information. You?

  He responded a half minute later. Your plan worked like a charm. Don’t head to the office. We’re meeting Garrett at the Jackhammer.

  I relayed the information to Bill, who released a groan. “It’ll be next to impossible for us to film anything usable in there. The bar will be too noisy.”

  “We were supposed to meet Garrett at his house. I wonder what changed.” I checked my phone again. Still nothing from Elijah. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

  We rode in silence and were almost to the bar off Highway 10, a few miles outside of the city limits, when my phone rang. I jumped at the sound but pressed my hand to my chest in relief when I saw the name on the screen.

  “Hey, Teddy,” I said when I answered. “You on your way to the bar?”

  “I’m already here. How far out are you?”

  “Less than five minutes. Why are we meeting Garrett at the Jackhammer?”

  “I called to tell him we were gonna be late, and he said he was running late at work since he had to take time off for the fire. He asked if we could meet at the bar instead. I figured, why not.”

  “We won’t be able to film what he says,” I said. “Too noisy.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “That’s okay. We need that information right now. If he tells us anything good, we’ll just reschedule and pretend to hear it for the first time.”

  “Spoken like a true reality TV star,” he said, but his tone was teasing and not judgmental.

  I grinned, grateful he was helping. “What did Gabby tell you?”

  “I’ll tell you when you get here. I’m waiting in the parking lot. Garrett won’t be here for another fifteen to twenty minutes. You got something from Trent?”

  “You’ll be stunned at what I got from Trent.” I hung up as we pulled into the parking lot. Teddy was already sitting on the tailgate of his truck, and Bill was parked next to him.

  I opened the back door to get out, but as soon as I stepped onto the gravel, I realized I’d dropped my sandals somewhere in the process of pushing Elijah’s truck into the pond.

  Well, crap.

  Teddy had hopped off the truck and, of course, noticed right away. “Where are your shoes?”

  “We were in a hurry to leave. I must have dropped them along the way.”

  His eyes darkened. “Why were you in a hurry to leave?”

  “I’m fine, Teddy. I took care of it.”

  “Boy, did she ever,” Bill said in awe as he pushed open the driver’s door. “I’ve got video evidence to prove what a badass she was.”

  I shot him a glare and shook my head, drawing my finger across my neck.

  He cringed, realizing his mistake.

  “What happened?” Teddy growled.

  “Calm down,” I said. “I’m perfectly unscathed.”

  “The other guy, not so much,” Bill said. Chuckling, he got out of my car and moved to the trunk.

  “Not helping,” I said through gritted teeth. I took a breath and shot a fake smile up at my cousin. “What did you find out from Gabby?”

  “Do you have a spare pair of shoes?” Teddy asked as his gaze drifted to my feet. “How are you gonna get inside?”

  “I don’t know . . .”

  He opened his truck door, and I wondered if he was about to leave and get me a pair, but he leaned behind the seat and rummaged around before pulling out a pair of brown cowboy boots with tassels. “Here. See if these fit.”

  “You don’t strike me as a guy who wears tasseled cowboy boots,” I teased.


  “Shut up. They belong to an old girlfriend.”

  “And you kept her boots?” I asked.

  He tossed them at me. “I bought them as a gift, and we broke up before I could give them to her. I thought about giving them to Dix, but she hated Lorraine and would refuse to wear them on principle alone. If they fit you, they’re yours.”

  I sat down on the back seat and stuffed my foot into one of the boots. “Hey. They do fit.”

  “Good, put the other one on, and I’ll fill you in on what happened at Gabby and Mark’s.”

  I had the boot on in no time, and Teddy and I sat on the tailgate to talk.

  “Teddy, are you wearing a mike?” Bill asked. He had his camera in his arms.

  “Yeah, and it’s still on.”

  “Hey,” I said, “where are Tony and Chuck?”

  “I dropped them off at the office to get a new battery for Tony’s camera and their car. They’ll be here shortly.” He turned to face me. “You were dead right about Gabby. She jumped at the chance to audition for the Housewives show and spilled everything. She and Mark were fighting, just like Clementine said, and she admitted to staying at the party after Clementine and some others left. But she said she and Mark stayed another half hour or so, or at least until Amelia left.”

  “So who was left?”

  “April Jean and Bruce.”

  “Bruce was still there?”

  “Yeah. And they both said he was acting weird. He kept trying to get April Jean to let him go home with her.”

  “Are you serious? Did she take him?”

  “They left before there was a resolution. But they also said they thought they saw Rick slinkin’ around in Trent’s house.”

  My brow lowered. “Clementine said Rick left around the time Dixie went in to use the bathroom. What if he drugged her and then came back to get her later? Trent said he was planning to take her home eventually, but she left, and he had no idea who she went with.”

  “I estimate that puts us at twelve thirty to one a.m. at the latest,” Teddy said. “And you got the call around three?”

  “Yeah . . .” My brain was trying to put it all together. “We need to find out who was still at the party when Trent noticed Dixie was gone.”