by Lena Gregory
Gia put everything back into the briefcase the way she’d found it and set it back in the closet. “Did you find something?”
“Here, help me.” She scooped out armfuls of clothes and set them aside on the bed.
Gia grabbed a pile and set them aside in a neat stack. “Seems like an awful lot of clothing for a quick trip to drop off a flash drive.”
“And there’s no business clothes. It’s all khaki pants and flowered shirts. Either he was planning on doing some vacationing while he was down here, or he wanted someone to think he was.” Savannah used her nail file to pry open the lining of the suitcase.
“Are you crazy?”
“Look.” She smoothed her hand over the lining, and a rectangle appeared. “Feels like an envelope. I can feel the clasp.”
Muffled voices echoed down the hallway. A man and a woman.
“Hurry,” Gia whispered.
Savannah’s hands shook as she peeled back the lining and grabbed a white envelope with Bradley Remington’s name printed on the front. She shoved it at Gia and started cramming the clothes back into the suitcase.
The voices moved closer. Another woman’s voice joined them.
Gia jammed the envelope into her waistband, yanked her shirt over it, and stuffed the last stack of clothes into the bag.
Savannah zipped it, stuck it in the closet, and closed the doors, then whirled toward Gia. “Go.”
“…told you Mr. Remington is out. I called just a little while ago, and he didn’t answer. I would have seen him if he came in.” The doorknob jiggled.
Savannah yanked the window open and climbed out onto the balcony.
Gia practically dove after her, pushing the window shut behind her. It bounced back open a crack. “We can’t lock it.”
The door opened from the hallway, spilling light into the room. Gia dropped flat onto her stomach beneath the window. “Get down.”
Savannah crouched beside the window with her back to the wall. “Oh, man. We’re gonna die,” she whispered between gasps.
Okay, that was probably a little dramatic. Arrested maybe, but dead? She doubted it. Unless… “You think it’s the killer?”
“No. Worse.” She swallowed hard. “Hunt.”
Ah jeez. Savannah was right. He was going to kill them.
Chapter 21
“When was the last time you saw Mr. Reynolds?” The man’s voice drifted from the barely open window. Definitely not Hunt.
“When he checked in this afternoon. He checked in, put his bags in his room, and left again. He hasn’t come back.” Gia recognized the voice as the clerk they’d spoken to earlier.
Heels clacked against the wood floor. The closet door swooshed open.
“Hey. What are you doing?” the clerk demanded.
“Just taking a look,” a woman answered.
“I said you could look in the room. I didn’t say you could touch anything.”
“Would this help?” the man asked.
There was a short pause, then the voice Gia recognized as the clerk spoke again. “No. Taking a few hundred dollars to let you take a peek in a room is one thing. I can’t let you go through a guest’s bags for any amount.”
“We could—”
“That’s fine. We understand, thank you.” The second woman in the room put an end to the argument. “We’re done here anyway. Thank you for your cooperation. I’m sorry we didn’t believe you about Don not being here. He’s a good friend, and he was supposed to meet up with us more than an hour ago. We were just concerned.”
“Of course. I’m sorry I couldn’t be more help, but I’m sure you understand I can’t allow you to go through his things.”
Footsteps retreated, followed by the room door clicking shut.
Savannah gestured wildly from the corner of the balcony.
Gia pushed off the floor and bolted toward her. The man and woman had paid a few hundred dollars just to get the clerk to open the door. Odds were, they’d be back to have a look for themselves as soon as they got the chance. She scrambled over the railing after Savannah, inched her way down to the porch railing, then launched herself onto the lawn.
By the time they grabbed their shoes and bags, made it to the car, and locked the doors, she was huffing and puffing like she’d just run a marathon.
Savannah grabbed Gia’s arm and slid down onto the floor.
Gia lay across the seats and whispered, “What?”
“The front door just opened.”
“Did you notice where their car was?”
Savannah shot her a dirty look. “If you think I noticed anything out there, you’re nuttier than a five-pound fruitcake.”
A car door closed, and a car started. Tires rolled over the cobblestone.
Gia and Savannah stared at each other.
Savannah held up one finger.
Gia nodded. Only one person had gotten into the car. “Maybe it wasn’t them.”
Shifting to contort herself farther beneath the dashboard, Savannah moaned. “I’m getting a cramp in my leg.”
Gia tried to think. They had to get out of there, but she couldn’t very well sit up without knowing if a killer lurked in the shadows. “All right. If it was them leaving, only one of them got into the car. If not, they’re still lurking around somewhere. What do you want to do?”
“Can you peek out and see if anyone’s out there?”
She was afraid Savannah would suggest that. She rolled over a little and elbowed Savannah in the head.
“Ouch.”
“Sorry.” She slid up just enough to peek out the passenger side window. Nothing. She sat up farther. Everything seemed quiet. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Whoop de freakin’ doo,” Savannah mumbled and unfolded herself from the floor.
Gia started the car, shifted into gear, and scanned the parking lot one last time.
“Wait.” Savannah gripped her arm and slid lower in the seat. “Someone just came out.”
A man strode down the porch steps and across the parking lot, duffle bag slung over his shoulder. Caleb Williams unlocked his car and slid behind the wheel. A guest who just happened to be headed out? Or was he the man who’d been in the room? She tried to remember if the man had any kind of accent, but she couldn’t bring his voice to mind. She’d been so terrified of getting caught at the time, she hadn’t noticed. Nothing had stood out to her, but then again, she was new enough to Florida that a southern accent would have drawn her attention more.
She waited for him to leave, then hightailed it out of there before anyone else came out. She considered following him, but with nothing else around for miles, there was no way he’d miss her on his tail. She checked her rearview mirror every two seconds as they wound down the dark driveway. When they hit the road, she looked around, then turned and headed toward home.
“Where are you going?”
“I just want to swing by the house for a minute and see if the police are still there.”
Savannah flipped down the sun visor, looked in the mirror, and smoothed her hair. She wiped the mascara that had smeared beneath her eyes, leaving her looking like a raccoon. When she was done, she flipped up the visor and turned to Gia. She grinned. “Can’t say I want to do that again.”
Gia laughed. “Me neither.”
Savannah rubbed her chest. “I thought my heart was going to explode.”
“I know, right. All I could picture was Hunt poking his head out that window and seeing us there.” Gia laughed harder, an image of Hunt’s shocked expression etched firmly in her mind.
“Can you imagine? He would have killed us for sure.” Savannah held her side and laughed harder.
Holding the wheel with one hand, Gia wrestled the envelope out from her waistband and handed it to Savannah. “I just hope this was worth risking Hunt’s wrath for.�
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Savannah wiped the tears from her eyes and switched on the interior light, then opened the envelope. “It looks like his will.”
“Are you sure?”
She flipped through page after page. “Most of it is legal mumbo jumbo I can’t decipher, but it says here Mr. Reynolds was supposed to give you a flash drive and a one hundred forty-eight page document. He was supposed to hand deliver it to you in the event of Bradley’s murder.”
Gia’s gaze shot to Savannah. “It says murder?”
“Yes. If he died in an accident or of natural causes, he was supposed to do something else with the document and flash drive.”
“What?”
Savannah flipped the last page and turned the document over. “It doesn’t say, just that he should follow an alternate arrangement in that case.”
“He knew.”
“Knew what? That someone was trying to kill him?”
“Yeah.”
“Gia…” Savannah rubbed her hand up and down Gia’s arm. “What he did to people, swindling them out of their life’s savings, lying to them, hurting them, with no regard for anyone but himself, not even his own wife, who he vowed to love and cherish… You just can’t treat people like that without expecting karma to come around and bite you in the ass.”
“You’re right.”
“I know.” She smirked. “I wouldn’t have said it if I wasn’t.”
That coaxed a small chuckle from Gia. “It’s just hard to believe he could be that deceptive. Even now, I still have a hard time wrapping my head around it. How could I have been so blind?”
“Because you’re a good person with a big heart. You can’t imagine someone you loved would treat people that way, because you never could. The fact that his behavior appalls you says a lot about your character.” She pointed up ahead to the right. “Slow down, or you’re going to miss the turn.”
She let off the accelerator. “Thanks, Savannah. Not just for that, but for coming with me tonight.”
“Heck, girl, I haven’t had that much fun since I was sixteen, and I broke into old man Hardy’s stable with Lorraine Helms and took his prize stallion out for a joy ride.”
“You’re kidding?”
“Nope. And the best part was Hunt and one of his buddies got blamed for it. But you know what?”
“What?”
“Hunt knew darn well it was me, but he didn’t rat me out. Never even said a word, just took his punishment. Poor guy spent the whole summer shoveling horse poop.”
Gia could imagine the young Hunt taking his baby cousin’s punishment without complaining. “Why do I get the feeling there’s a point in there somewhere?”
“My point is, you can trust him.” She lifted the stack of papers still clutched in her hand. “Tell him. Let him figure it out.”
“Tell him what? That I broke into a hotel room and stole documents from a secret compartment in a dead man’s suitcase.”
“All right, I can see where that might seem like a bit of a problem, but I’m telling you, after he gets all huffy and yells a little, he’ll help you.” She squeezed Gia’s hand, then turned and looked out the window at the dark forest.
They drove in silence past Gia’s house. It was still lit up like Grand Central Station, so she didn’t bother stopping. Hunt would just chase her anyway. Besides, she wasn’t ready to face him yet. First she had to figure out what to do with the documents now in her possession. “Is that legal?”
“Is what legal?”
“Having two separate wills depending on the circumstances surrounding your death.”
Savanah pursed her lips and flipped to the last page of the packet. “I don’t know. It’s signed by Reynolds and Bradley, but I don’t see a witness’s signature or any kind of official stamp from the state or anything. Maybe it was just an arrangement between the two of them. If he wasn’t murdered, Reynolds could just destroy this version and be done with it. Who’d know?”
“I guess.” It still seemed off to Gia.
“Especially since all it said, for the most part, was to give you a flash drive and papers. If they were in his possession already, all he had to do was swing by and drop them off.”
“And now, it’s possible whoever killed Reynolds has the document.”
“And if the document mentions the flash drive…”
“The killer will be looking for it,” Gia finished for her.
Savannah looked at her, the dull light from the dashboard instruments illuminating the concern in her eyes. “Let’s just hope whoever it is doesn’t think you have it.”
“Yeah.”
By the time they reached Savannah’s house, Gia could barely keep her eyes open. “I feel like I could sleep for a week.”
“Yeah, well, you’ll be lucky to get a few hours at this point.”
“I know.”
“You can park in the driveway. No one else will be leaving before you.”
She parked and started to get out. “When this is over, we’ll go away for a couple of days, if you want.”
“Oh, I definitely want.” She pointed at Gia. “And I’m holding you to it.”
“All right, all right.” It would be nice to get away, even just for a couple of days. She probably should have taken a break before she threw herself into the café. Who knew? Maybe if she had, none of this would have happened.
The minute Savannah opened the front door, Thor pounced, jumping up and down on his back legs while his front paws scrambled frantically against Gia’s legs.
She picked him up and hugged him. “Yes, I missed you too.”
He nuzzled her cheek.
Joey walked into the foyer. “He’s awesome.”
“Thank you. Did he behave?”
“Yeah. We played for a while, then he settled down on the floor at my feet and took a nap. A long one.”
Gia looked around the small foyer. She’d never been to Savannah’s house before. Savannah lived with Joey and her father, and although they’d invited her for dinner a few times when she’d been down, there just hadn’t been time. Savannah had said she had four dogs, but Gia didn’t see any sign of them. “Where are your dogs?”
“Pa took them upstairs with him when he went to bed. It was the only way to calm them all down.” Joey grinned. “They sure did love having a puppy around.”
Savannah punched his arm on her way past as she headed toward the kitchen. “Don’t get any ideas.”
He followed her. “Oh, stop. Once you have four, what’s one more?”
“If you come home with another dog, you are taking over vacuuming duties.”
“No way. That’s women’s work.”
“Oh, you did not just say that.”
He laughed.
“I’m just going to walk Thor and I’ll be right in,” Gia called after them.
She hooked Thor’s leash to his collar, grabbed a plastic bag from a basket in the foyer, and headed out toward the road. As much as she enjoyed the interaction between Savannah and her family, it sometimes made her feel lonely. She’d lost everyone she loved…well…almost everyone, and sometimes the loss weighed more heavily than others. And the betrayal. Bradley’s betrayal had been devastating, but the fact that many of her friends turned on her had left its mark as well.
She cleaned up after Thor, dropped the bag in the garbage pail beside the garage, and headed in. Standing there wallowing in self-pity all night would accomplish nothing.
The scent of coffee hit her as soon as she walked into the kitchen. “Mmm… That smells delicious.”
“Sit.” Savannah gestured toward the table. “I would have preferred ice cream, but I’m out, and there’s nowhere to get it this late.”
Gia washed her hands, then flopped onto a chair at the table, and Thor settled at her feet with a chew toy he found somewhere. “Do you
ever miss New York? Being able to run out at any time to get anything you wanted?”
Savannah set out two mugs, spoons, and a creamer. “Not really. It was never right for me. The crowds, the pace, the tall buildings everywhere you looked. The gray sky all winter. It just never felt like home.”
“I know what you mean.” She’d hoped a new start in Florida would be the solution to all her problems, that she would love it, that the small community would embrace her and she’d find her place. But no matter how much she wanted it to be, Florida just wasn’t home. Maybe it never would be.
The front door opened and closed.
Gia looked toward the sound. “Is that Joey?”
“No. He went up to play video games.” Savannah glanced at the will sitting on the table. She tossed a dishtowel over it just as Hunt walked in.
“Hey there.” He kissed Savannah’s cheek, petted Thor, and sat across the table from Gia. “So, what did you two do all night?”
“Uh…” Gia couldn’t tell if he was just being curious or if he knew full well exactly what they’d done all night.
He fished a paper out of his pocket and held it out to her between two fingers. “Look familiar?”
“Why would it?” She glanced at Savannah before taking the note and unfolding it.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because your fingerprints are all over it.”
“My…”
“Were you ever fingerprinted for any reason in New York?”
Dang. She’d forgotten about that. “For comparison when they searched the apartment after Bradley was arrested.”
“Mmm…hmmm. It took about two seconds for your prints to come back. Which really wasn’t necessary, since the clerk was able to give such a vivid description of you and your sidekick.” He shot Savannah a pointed glare. “Now, someone better start explaining something, or we’re all going to take a ride down to the station and chat there.”
Savannah propped her hands on her hips and huffed. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Wanna bet?”
She pulled out a chair and sat, her best pout firmly in place.
“It wasn’t her fault, it was mine.” Gia sat up straighter. She wasn’t about to let Savannah take the blame for something she did. Not that she believed for one minute that Hunt would drag Savannah down to the police station, but he was her cousin, and they were close. She couldn’t come between them.