“Yeah, well, you no longer get to set our daily agenda. My preference is for late morning activities. Nothing before ten.”
“For a career criminal, you do a lot of complaining.” Kane grabbed a key ring out of his back jeans pocket as soon as they reached the gate.
“I’m not a criminal.”
“Uh-huh.” He handed her the flashlight. “Hold this.”
“This scheme was your idea. You’re the one breaking into the marina, not me.”
He fit the key into the lock. “Am I breaking anything?”
“Where did you get that?”
“I have my ways.”
“I guess that means Ted gave it to you.”
He shrugged. “Roy actually, but I’m sure he had Ted’s approval.”
“Roy is the young guy we met the last time we were at the marina, right? He struck me as too scared to do anything.”
Kane opened the lock and slid the heavy chain off the gate, dropping it to the pavement. “He’s old enough to hold keys.”
“Since you have them now, I’m not so sure.”
No one who worked for Kane seemed to understand that he wasn’t supposed to be involved with police work right now. They all helped him without question. She wondered how it felt to be on the receiving end of that sort of blind loyalty. For people to believe so deeply they ignore whatever awful information they hear.
She had no idea. She’d never experienced that kind of devotion. Her father died before she left kindergarten. She had committed her mother to an institution more than a year ago. Emotionally her mother had died long before that. A darkness, a deep, sucking hole that spiraled down and consumed her mother’s life, started the day she met Sterling Howard.
Sure, he went by a different name then. Cliff Radnor. Exciting guy. Fake life. Con artist, thief and murderer. He’d conducted his search and destroy mission, saddling Annie with the job of cleaning up his mess.
“Let’s go.” Kane took the flashlight back. With a palm against her lower back, he guided her to the yacht and helped her step on board.
“Why are we here?” she whispered.
“To check out the scene and see if my officers missed anything.” He shined the flashlight around the deck.
“Shouldn’t you be whispering?”
“Are you afraid someone’s sleeping? Speaking of that, where was your bedroom?”
The question knocked the chill right out of her bones. “I never said I’d slept on the yacht.”
“Give me a break, Annie. Which one?”
“I don’t—”
“Look, I haven’t turned you over to Ted or exposed any secrets. Right now, we’re in this together. I’m all you’ve got, so you need to be straight with me.”
The truth of the words hit her full force. “Down the steps. Second on the left.”
He lowered the light to the floor. “Lead the way.”
She hesitated, unsure what to do next. The last time she walked along this hallway, she left over the side. Her memories of the place weren’t exactly good.
“Is your knee bothering you?”
“No.” That qualified as a lie since her knee hadn’t stopped thumping since she woke up this morning. Which, unfortunately, was far too close to the time she went to sleep.
A “yes” would have meant an early trip back to the cottage. Not practical but very tempting since the only time she forgot about the pain had come last night when the orgasm ripped through her. Without Kane licking and touching her, the pain came roaring back with a vengeance.
She wondered if he ever planned to talk about it or if he’d continue on without emotion and ignoring his body’s needs. He had this ability to shut his mind off, compartmentalizing his life into neat, no-nonsense boxes. Being put into one of those boxes and locked out of his feelings ticked her off.
Nothing about Kane Travers seemed easy to understand.
She walked down the stairs, leaning on the arm rail for balance. Better to get this over with and get back to somewhere a little less creepy. If any piece of evidence existed to lead her back to Sterling, Kane would find it, and she’d know about it.
The first door led to a small extra bedroom. Kane pushed it open and walked in. “Was anyone in here?”
She leaned in. The double bed looked untouched. She had searched the room on her last visit. Nothing had changed. The place still looked abandoned. “No. Mine’s next.”
The door stood open, but Josh’s assessment was right on about her room. Nothing in the drawers, closet or bathroom. The floral room smelled lemony sterile. Looked as if no one had stayed there in years, when in reality she’d unpacked her things just a few days earlier.
“I had a bag and some clothes. Everything is gone.”
“Why did you get off the boat?” Kane checked under the bed and behind the curtains as he asked the question.
“I didn’t. Someone threw me off.”
He stilled with the mattress in his hands and in midair. “Who?”
“I don’t know. People, two I think, grabbed me from behind, and in I went.”
“Naked.” He dropped the mattress.
“I was changing clothes at the time.” Together they turned over and looked under everything that could be turned over and looked under. “Want to check the other rooms?”
“You’re done sharing information?” he asked.
“Pretty much.”
“Figures,” he muttered as he stepped back into the hallway and aimed the flashlight’s beam at the other doors. “What else is on this floor?”
“Bedrooms and a family room area.”
“Where did Howard sleep?” No eye contact. Just a curt tone.
“Not with me, if that’s what you’re asking.”
This time Kane aimed the light right at her stomach. She guessed the idea was to shine close enough to her face to see her reaction without also blinding her.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m thinking those panties at the station are going to lead back to you.”
“Probably.” She gave the king of short answers the receiving end for a change.
“Not exactly the underwear one takes to a business meeting. Unless the woman in question is in a certain type of business, which you’re not from what I can tell.”
That probably qualified as a compliment to Kane. “You look at a lot of women’s skivvies during meetings, do you?”
“You know what I’m asking.”
She thought about slapping him. Matching her with that, that creature Howard…the idea made her sick. “Those cop instincts of yours are getting rusty during your vacation. You know the answer and don’t need me to spell it out for you.”
“You didn’t sleep with Howard.” Kane said it as a statement, not a question.
“Exactly.”
“Run out of time?”
Maybe slapping wouldn’t be enough. “No interest.”
“Tell me what he is to you.”
She saw something move behind those intense dark eyes, an emotion she couldn’t name. This time she responded to the question Kane didn’t ask. “Not what Ted thinks. You’re the only man I’ve slept with on the island.”
Kane stared at her for a few seconds. Just long enough to make her squirm. When he broke eye contact to open the door across the hall, relief rushed through her. An in-depth conversation about her life and motivations could wait. Twenty minutes after forever worked for her.
Kane took a step into the next room. When his head snapped back, she thought something must have hit him.
“Kane, are you okay?”
“Looks as if my officers missed something.” He blocked the doorway. “Though it’s hard to imagine how.”
She wiggled her way between his arm and the door-jamb. Peeking into the room, she expected to see something odd. Maybe an animal or food.
Not a dead body.
“Oh, my God…is that…?”
“The publisher. Chester Manning.” Kane slipped the flashlight into her numb fingers and pus
hed her back into the hall. “Stay right here. Do not move and do not look.”
Last thing in the world she wanted to do was look, but she couldn’t stop.
Kane kneeled down next to Chester’s lifeless body and felt for a pulse. Somehow Kane maintained control. Didn’t even retch over the blood. He checked around the area looking for something.
She could see only Chester. A once fit and handsome fiftyish man with gray hair and a dignified way about him. A guy with a designer suit for every occasion, and a photo in the paper for every charity event he hosted.
She’d met him only a few times. Those communications had come mostly in the form of memos about contract photo jobs. She negotiated with his staff, but he signed the paperwork.
Many viewed him as a legend in publishing. A rich kid who turned an interest in Hawaii into a specialty book business and eventually a successful international magazine on island living. He symbolized the new wealth pouring into the island.
Now Chester lay sprawled next to the guest bed with a gash on his head and a huge bloodstain on the beige carpet beneath him. He faced the wall away from her, so she didn’t have to look into his eyes. She saw the back of his head. That was enough.
“Is he—”
“Dead.” Kane stood up. “Very.”
“How?”
“My guess is blunt force trauma. The body isn’t bloated. Doesn’t smell. There are no outward signs of decomposition. Probably happened a few hours ago. Not even twenty-four hours.”
“Here?”
“Right here.”
“Where has he been for the last few days?” If she could figure that out, she’d likely know Howard’s whereabouts.
“I’m more concerned with this.”
She shined the light on Kane’s hand. He held out a dark leather binder. Newspaper clippings. Notes. Photos. She recognized the album without even opening it.
“Where was that?”
“Next to the body. There’s a piece of paper clenched in Chester’s fist, too.”
Bile raced up the back of her throat. She got dumped into the ocean. Now one of her fellow passengers turned up dead with her property planted around his body. She wondered if someone had resorted to Plan B. Expose and get rid of her. The most likely candidate was Howard. They’d never met before a few days ago, but he must have known who she really was.
“Take this.” Kane handed her the folder.
Her fingers clenched on to it like a life line. “What are you doing?”
“Seeing what this other piece of paper is.”
He knelt down next to the body again and wrestled the paper out of the dead man’s grip and looked at it. “I think we have a problem. Maybe I should say a new problem.”
“What now?”
Kane held up the crinkled paper. “A photo of you.”
Even in the darkness she recognized the photo. A self-portrait she’d taken while playing around with her camera. She liked the shot, so she carried it. Now a dead man had it.
“We’ll talk about this later.” Kane shoved the wrinkled photo into his front pocket and returned to his feet. Taking her elbow, he pushed her into the hall.
Annie wasn’t ready to budge. “Why?”
“Until I know why Manning had it, it comes with us. We’ll go home and regroup.” With a bit of force, Kane propelled her toward the stairs.
“There could be something else in here that implicates me.” She dug in her heels and spun back around.
“Like the dead body?”
“Stop pushing me, Kane. This is my life we’re talking about. I didn’t do anything.”
“For the first time in my life I’ve messed with a crime scene, so excuse me if I’m not in the mood for a lecture.” Anger strained his voice.
The gesture humbled her. “Sorry.”
His shoulders relaxed as he visibly fought for calm. “Look, we don’t know where the killer is. We need to get out of here now. While we still can.”
“You think I did this.” The thought paralyzed her. She’d never given Kane a reason to trust her, but she expected trust anyway.
“Think, Annie. I know exactly where you’ve been for the last two days. With me. Unless you snuck off while I was in the shower, killed a guy and then dropped your stuff by the body on the way out, I’d say someone is trying to send a message.”
He believed her. Well, on this he did. That realization got her moving. After one last visual scan, she let him take her up the stairs and back out to the dock. They got two steps before a blinding light shined in their faces.
She tried to block the beam with her hand. Kane’s instincts took him another way. He reached behind his back for his gun. She’d seen it earlier and ignored it. Now she wished she hadn’t lost hers.
“Not one more move, Travers.”
They both froze at the sound of Dietz’s voice. Kane let loose with a string of profanities, some combinations she’d never heard before. She would have been impressed if she weren’t so damn scared.
“Put your hands up.” Dietz shouted his command. “Both of you.”
“I’m with the fucking police, you idiot,” Kane yelled back.
The light lowered. In the shadows she could see Dietz, his gun and the huge grin on his face.
“I’ve been waiting for you to screw up. To do something you can’t talk your way out of with your damn local boy charm.”
“You aren’t a detective. You’re a desk jockey.” Kane settled his hands on his hips. “Get back in your car and go home.”
She could only imagine how Kane’s fingers must itch to pull out his own gun in response to Dietz’s. Hell, right now she considered grabbing the weapon herself.
Dietz didn’t back off. If anything, his chest puffed up with pride. “You’re under arrest for interfering with an active police investigation and trespassing.”
She noticed he didn’t mention murder. Must be no one knew about Chester yet. Dietz was too busy being impressed with his ingenuity to ask why they were at the marina. Once he knew about the murder he could pin on Kane, he’d be downright giddy.
Kane shook his head. “As usual, you don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I’m taking away your badge. Consider it a public service.”
“Call Ted.” Kane’s clipped tone made her tremble. His voice turned icy when Dietz came around, which seemed to be all the time.
“I’m in charge this time. Not one of your buddies.” Dietz managed to grab his handcuffs and hold the gun on Kane at the same time.
“This is ridiculous,” she muttered.
“I warned you he was no good.” The gun barrel jerked to the side. Now the thing aimed at her. “Can’t say I didn’t try.”
“Call Ted.” Kane repeated his order, and the gun swung right back in his direction.
Even in the dark, she could see Dietz’s face flush red with anger. He sputtered. “I said—”
“And the coroner. Better wake him up while you’re at it,” Kane added.
Confusion showed on Dietz’s face. “What in the hell are you talking about?”
Kane exhaled loud enough for her to hear. “A dead body. The bad news for you is that it’s not mine.”
Chapter 14
Kane used his one call from police headquarters to contact Josh. After some inventive grumbling about having to leave the hot blond waitress underneath him, Josh promised to be there in a few minutes.
Which was good because if Kane had to spend much more one-on-one alone time with Dietz, he could add assaulting a police officer to his list of alleged crimes. Looking at Dietz’s smug smile across the interrogation room table bugged Kane more than Dietz’s wild accusations and baseless threats.
Being separated from Annie was the worst part. Not seeing her, knowing Dietz locked her in the jail cell, tormented him.
And Dietz knew it.
“Where’s Annie?” Kane asked.
“Your girlfriend is fine where she is. I’ll get to her in due time.” Dietz’s voice
took on a sleazy quality.
“Don’t touch her.” Blood pulsed in Kane’s veins as the muscles across his shoulders tensed for a fight.
He dug his fingernails into his palm to keep from losing his cool. One or two well-placed words and he knew he’d lunge across the table to take Dietz out. He’d been waiting for years to do just that.
“It’s not like you to let a woman get under your skin.” Dietz chuckled, enjoying the scene far too much.
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“Thought you gave up women for good when you realized none of them had any longevity where you were concerned.”
Kane let the words roll off him. Same as he had for years. “Let her out. Now.”
“The concern for your newest bed partner is touching, but you’re the one with a problem.” Dietz opened the manila case file in front of him and started flipping through the attached photos.
Kane could read the label. Sam Watson’s file. Dietz had made the kid’s case into a full-time job. Forget that Josh backed up the story about the shooting. That the kid’s fingerprints were on the gun. The truth didn’t matter.
Dietz shook his head in mock disappointment. “Kane, Kane, Kane. You watched your sister die. You couldn’t save your precious wife from her drunken rages. You killed an innocent kid. Now you’ve killed a public figure. Yeah, your officers found the body.”
“I didn’t kill anyone.”
“Maybe all of those years sniffing out drugs turned your mind soft.”
“The only thing soft around here is you.”
Dietz’s mocking tone disappeared. “Who gave you the key to the dock?”
No way. Kane decided if he was going down, he was going down alone. “No one. I took it.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I don’t give a shit what you believe.”
Dietz closed the file and leaned down on his elbows. “Do you have any idea what happens to a dirty cop in prison? You’d be smart to talk to me. Things might go easier on you if you cooperate.”
“Find me a real cop and I’ll talk.”
“I’m the only person standing between you and serious time. Your career’s over, but you can salvage some part of your life if you talk now.”
Even if any of that were true, Dietz was the last guy he’d confide in. The man operated on revenge. Pure and simple, he thrived on hate.
Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy Page 11