“Yes. She was late, and she didn’t answer her phone. I got worried and came to make sure she was okay. I thought maybe she’d overslept or her car hadn’t started. I never thought…” She shook her head.
“You went to her apartment first?”
“Yes. The door was unlocked, and I walked inside. Checked her bedroom. She wasn’t there. She loves the bluff and looking out over the bay. I thought maybe she’d come here and lost track of time, so I came to check. I don’t know what made me look down. Maybe just a feeling that things weren’t right. Do you think she fell?”
“I won’t know until I get down there. For now, I’m going to assume that’s what happened. Unless you know something that makes you think differently.”
She hesitated, her dark gaze skittering away. “I don’t.”
Lying?
Maybe. Or maybe she was still in shock, still trying to wrap her mind around Olivia’s death. He couldn’t blame her if she was. He couldn’t wrap his mind around it. He’d seen Olivia the previous day, pushing Charles’s twins in a double stroller, a smile on her face.
He shoved the image away.
He needed to focus on the job. There’d be time to mourn later.
He scanned the ground near the cliff, looking for signs of a struggle, some clue that would help put together a picture of what had happened. No footprints, but a few feet away, the earth seemed scuffed. Nearby, a black shoe lay near a clump of winter-brown foliage, and he crouched nearby. Woman’s sneaker with green shoelaces.
“It’s Olivia’s.” Merry crouched beside him, reached out. He snagged her hand before she could grab the sneaker, felt the tension beneath smooth skin.
“We need to leave it for the evidence team.”
“Evidence of what?” she asked, tugging her hand away and tucking it into the pocket of her coat. Her cheeks were red from cold, her breath coming out in quick puffs that hung in the icy air.
“Of whatever happened here.”
“You ready to go down, Douglas?” Douglas’s older brother, Ryan, approached, climbing gear flung over his shoulder, his face hard. Deputy chief of police, he’d earned his title through hard work and commitment to the job. Keira and Owen were right behind him, Aiden taking up the rear. Every Fitzgerald police officer was in attendance, but there was nothing they could do for Olivia. Nothing but recover her body, notify her next of kin and see that she had a proper burial.
“I’m ready.” He slid into the gear as Merry watched, her body so tense and tight he thought she might break.
“Why don’t you wait near your car, Merry? I have a few questions I’d like to ask when I’m finished here.”
“Sure.” She seemed relieved by his suggestion, happy to be allowed to leave the cliff. He watched as she ran toward the cottage, her hair flying wild behind her.
“She seems upset,” Keira said.
“She and Olivia were pretty chummy, so that’s not surprising,” Ryan responded as he helped Douglas hook into the harness. “Ready, bro?”
“Ready.”
“Take the camera down with you. The way those waves are crashing, we could lose evidence quickly.” His brother Owen, a detective with the police department, handed him a camera, and Douglas tucked it into his pocket.
“Will do.” Icy spray seeped through his uniform as he rappelled down the slick rock.
Olivia’s body lay a few feet away, water lapping at her hand and seeping over the surface of the boulder under her. He snapped photos quickly, gulls screaming overhead as he worked, his mind separating fact from emotion.
Olivia. Living, breathing, laughing Olivia.
Dead.
It was his job to chronicle the scene. Make sure nothing was missed. He couldn’t let sorrow cloud his vision or his objectivity.
Blood stained the blond hair at the back of Olivia’s skull, and he snapped a picture.
Bruised cheek.
Snap.
Arms and legs splayed.
Snap.
Bruises on one wrist that might have been finger marks.
Snap.
He frowned, studying the angle of Olivia’s head and neck. She lay facedown, but the wound was to the back of her head, the skin behind her ear broken. A deadly blow, for sure. He snapped a close-up of the wound and glanced up, trying to imagine a way that she might have fallen and slammed the back of her head into the face of the cliff. Pounding waves had carved a shallow hollow beneath the bluff, and it would have been difficult for anyone to fall into the rock wall. Didn’t mean it hadn’t happened, though.
He snapped a photo of the cliff’s edge. Snapped another of the scene, Olivia’s splayed body on dark gray rock. Nothing else but a fist-size rock that lay a foot from the remains. He crouched next to it, used his flashlight to turn the heavy stone. A few long strands of blond hair clung to it, glued on by dark clotted blood.
And he knew what he was dealing with.
Not a horrible tragic accident.
A murder.
TWO
Kindhearted, sweet Olivia. Gone.
It didn’t seem possible.
Couldn’t be true.
But no matter how much she wanted to wipe the image out of her mind, Merry couldn’t shake the picture of Olivia’s body lying lifeless as waves crashed just feet away. She rubbed her arms, but there was no easing the icy chill that had settled in her heart.
Sadness.
Anxiety.
Fear.
Heart-pounding, breath-stealing fear.
Her blood flowed cold with it, and she couldn’t shake that. No matter how hard she tried.
Police milled around the lighthouse grounds searching for clues that would help them figure out how Olivia had ended up at the base of the cliff. All Merry could do was stand still, stay quiet, pray that she didn’t call any undue attention to herself.
“Merry? Are you okay?” Keira Fitzgerald hurried toward her, black hair gleaming in the hazy sunlight. The youngest of the Fitzgerald police officers, Keira was the least intimidating of the group, but she was still an officer of the law. Not someone Merry wanted to spend more than a few minutes talking to. Better to talk to her than Douglas, though. Douglas who tempted Merry in a way no man ever had. Tempted her to say things she shouldn’t, believe in things she shouldn’t. She should never have agreed to have lunch with him once, let alone twice. But she had. She’d sat across the table from him, looked into his blue eyes and known how dangerous a game she was playing. Two shared meals, and she’d wanted to confess everything. So, she’d told him what she had to, that things weren’t working out, and she’d done her best to avoid him ever since.
“Are you okay?” Keira repeated, and she nodded.
“Fine. I just wish Olivia was, too.” Her voice broke, and she swallowed back tears.
“You and Olivia were close, weren’t you?”
“We were friends.”
“You were going to meet her for lunch?” Keira scribbled something in a small notebook, and Merry nodded.
“She had the day off, and my landlady offered to watch Tyler. We thought it would be the perfect opportunity to spend some time together without kids. Not that Olivia didn’t like being with the twins. She did, but…” She pressed her lips together, forced back the avalanche of words.
Short, simple, to the point. That’s what she needed to be when it came to dealing with the police.
“When was the last time you spoke to her?”
“Yesterday afternoon when we confirmed our plans.”
“Did you notice anything unusual during your conversation?”
“No.”
“She didn’t seem upset? Worried? Anxious?” Keira pressed, and the words shivered along Merry’s spi
ne. Too many questions being asked about the tragedy, and there had to be a reason.
“No. Why?”
“What time did you arrive at the lighthouse?” Keira sidestepped the question.
“Twelve-thirty.”
“Did you see anything out of the ordinary?”
“What’s going on, Keira?”
“Look, we don’t want this spread around yet, but it looks like Olivia didn’t fall. The evidence suggests she was dead or unconscious before she hit the rocks.”
“She was murdered?” Merry’s heart jumped, her stomach churning.
“That’s what the evidence is pointing to.”
“Who would do such a thing?”
“That’s what we’re hoping you can help us with. Olivia arrived in town three months ago. Now she’s dead. Probably murdered. She brought some kind of trouble with her. That’s what we’re thinking. You were her closest friend in town. Maybe you know what that trouble was.”
“Like you said, she’s only been in town for a few months. It’s hard to get close to someone in such a short amount of time.” She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing pulse. Stick as close to the truth as possible. Give the police as much information as she could. Go home and pray that she wouldn’t be pulled any further into the investigation. That was the plan. All she had to do was stick to it, and she’d be fine. Tyler would be fine.
Please, God, let him be fine.
“Funny, Fiona has mentioned you and Olivia getting together on a fair number of occasions. You don’t consider that close?”
“I liked Olivia. She was very sweet and easy to get along with, but we hung out together because we were both new to town and we both had young children with us all the time. We didn’t share much about our lives outside of work and kids.” Not much, but they had shared some. At least, Olivia had.
More secrets.
Too many secrets.
“I see.” Keira scribbled something else into the notebook, and Merry was tempted to yank it from her hand, read what she’d written.
“I wish I could tell you more, Keira. I really do.”
“Did Olivia mention any—”
“Have they brought up her body yet?” Dr. Charles Fitzgerald interrupted as he walked toward them, his expression grim, his eyes dark with sadness. Though he’d treated Tyler for ear infections several times in the past year, Merry didn’t know him well. Olivia had spoken highly of him though. Called him a gentleman, a great father and a wonderful employer.
“Not yet. It should be soon, though. You know you’re not going to be able to examine her body, right? That’s going to have to be left to the medical examiner,” Keira responded.
“I know, but I need to be here anyway. She was the kids’ nanny. She loved them, and they loved her.”
“Was she in her apartment when you left this morning?” Keira asked, all her attention on her brother.
Good.
Maybe Merry could get in her car, drive home to her son. Hide away until everything blew over.
Only she didn’t think this was going to blow over.
There would be questions. Lots of them.
And, that could mean trouble.
Merry moved away from the siblings, their conversation swirling on cold January air and following her as she walked to the edge of the path that led to the cliff. She didn’t want to go back, didn’t want to see Olivia’s body pulled up from the rocks, but she had to.
Three months wasn’t a long time to be friends, but it had been enough time to know that Olivia was alone. A transplant from Ireland, she had a cousin in the States, but no other family close by. Someone had to stand vigil as her body was retrieved. Since Charles was being interviewed, Merry was the only one left.
She followed the path, bypassing the lighthouse and winding her way toward the cliff’s edge. Gulls screamed, their banshee cries piercing the air. She shivered, pulling her coat tight against cold wind as she ducked under the tape.
“The tape is there for a reason.” The deep baritone cut through her thoughts, pulled her back to the present and the problem at hand. Douglas Fitzgerald blocked her path, his broad, muscular chest at eye level.
She had to look up to meet his gaze.
Way up.
“Someone needs to be there when Olivia is brought up. She doesn’t have family around, so…” Her voice trailed off as he studied her face, his eyes so intensely blue that she wanted to look away. She was sure he could read her secrets, see all the things she’d spent four years keeping hidden.
That was why things hadn’t worked out.
That was why two dates had been two too many.
That was why she avoided the man like the plague.
Only she couldn’t avoid him now, couldn’t turn and run in the other direction.
“So, you thought you would be her family and keep watch over her? I wish I could let you, but this is a crime scene.” His words were gentle, his touch light as he urged her back under the tape.
“I won’t touch anything. I just want to…” What did she want to do? Pray for Olivia’s family? Make sure her friend’s remains were treated with respect?
“My family cared about Olivia, too, Merry. I promise you, we’ll make sure she’s treated with dignity.”
“Olivia has a cousin in the States. You’re going to have to call her.”
“Do you have a name or contact information?”
“Meghan, maybe? I’m not a hundred percent sure.” She wasn’t a hundred percent sure of much when it came to Olivia. A half-dozen years her junior, Olivia had been as closemouthed and protective of her past as Merry. That had seemed to suit them both fine. Maybe it was one of the main reasons they’d become friends. Neither asked many questions. Neither gave a lot of answers.
Only, now, Olivia was dead and there was no way to avoid questions or answers.
Please, God, let the questions just be about Olivia. Not about me, or my life, or Tyler.
She shivered, and Douglas rubbed her arms, the quick, brusque touch doing nothing to warm her. Her teeth chattered, and she dragged the coat tighter around her chest. She wanted to zip it, but her hands were shaking violently, and she was afraid Douglas would notice.
“You’re cold,” he said in the same gentle tone he’d used before, and she knew why every unattached woman in Fitzgerald Bay wanted to capture Douglas’s attention. Knew why the women at church whispered as he settled into the pew with the rest of the Fitzgeralds. Knew exactly why she’d agreed to go to lunch with him twice and why it was absolutely imperative that she never do such a foolish thing again. His tone, his eyes, they begged confidence, promised protection, made a woman want to trust him with all her worries and every one of her deepest darkest secrets.
“I’m okay.”
“You’re freezing.” He grabbed the hem of her coat, had it zipped before she realized what he was doing. “Why don’t you go home and warm up? I’ll stop by your place and interview you after I finish here.”
Stop by her place?
Be near Tyler?
No.
Never.
Not in a million years.
That’s what she wanted to say, but couldn’t.
“I don’t mind waiting here until you’re finished.”
“It could take hours, and the wind is picking up, the temperature is dropping. Charles’s place is off-limits until we finish dusting for prints, and you’ll either have to sit in your car or stand out in the cold. Go on home. I’ll meet you there as soon as I can.” He turned away, assuming that she’d go along with his plan. She wanted to. She really did. But she couldn’t risk having him so close to Tyler.
“I’ll be warm enough waiting in my car, and that will save you the e
ffort of driving over to my place.”
“Is there some reason why you don’t want me to stop by your house?” He scanned her face, searching for the things she held close to her heart, the truths she’d never dared tell anyone.
“Of course not. I just thought that if I waited here, I’d save you some time,” she lied, because she couldn’t tell him how much the thought of having a police officer near her son terrified her.
“If you want to save me time, stop arguing about where I’m going to interview you and go home,” he said with a half smile that made her heart flutter.
Foolish heart.
Even terror couldn’t keep it from reacting when Douglas was around. She had to keep her distance. Had to keep him out of her house, out of her life, out of her heart.
Above all, she had to keep him away from Tyler.
“Interview me about what? I’ve already told you what I know.” Even she could hear the desperation in her tone, and Douglas didn’t miss it. His gaze sharpened, and he stepped close, his expression taut and hard as he cupped her shoulders and looked down into her face.
“What are you hiding, Merry?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why are you so nervous?”
“Because Olivia is gone. Murdered, and I don’t know why. I can’t believe anyone would want to hurt her,” she responded truthfully, hoping it would be enough to assuage Douglas.
“Someone did hurt her though, and I’m hoping you can help us figure out who that was. That’s why I need to interview you.”
“I didn’t know her very well. Not well enough to tell you anything that could help.”
“You may be surprised at what you know and how much it helps. So, how about we stop arguing about this, and you go on home?” he asked, but it wasn’t a suggestion. He expected her to comply, and she knew she didn’t have a choice.
“We weren’t arguing. We were discussing.” She walked back to her car, giving up the fight to keep him away from her house. She’d just have to keep the interview focused on Olivia, keep it away from her past, her son, her secrets.
The Lawman's Legacy (Love Inspired Suspense) Page 2