by Connie Mann
They had almost reached the porch when he caught up with them. “Hey, ladies, what’s up?”
Sasha turned, and her expression had him up on the porch beside her in two painful strides. “What happened?”
“Somebody shot at us,” Blaze blurted.
The words hit like a fist.
“Tell me what happened,” he barked. “All of it. From the beginning.”
Sasha patted the air in a “calm down” gesture as she dropped into a wicker chair, clutching something in her lap. There was a fine trembling in her hands. “We’re fine. We had quite a scare, though.”
Blaze took Mama’s rocker, and he sat beside Sasha where he could keep an eye on both of them.
“I kept thinking about what Captain Alby said about finding the fridge—and his sudden demise—and decided to check out Ned’s old appliance graveyard.”
“The one out in the woods all the kids used to hang out by when we were in high school?”
“Right. It was just a crazy hunch. But then someone started shooting.”
“Do you know what kind of weapon the shooter had? Shotgun, rifle or pistol?”
“My guess is rifle, based on the sound. I didn’t really stop to analyze.”
He’d get back to that. “Did you find anything?”
She slowly pulled out the sealed plastic bag, brittle after all this time. “Based on the newspaper articles I saw, these are the clothes Tony was wearing the day he disappeared.”
He froze, stunned. She carefully handed him the bag, and he studied the clothes through the plastic. No sign of blood. He blew out a relieved breath.
“Speaking of analyze.” He nodded to the clothes. “What now?”
She reached in her pocket and pulled out her cell phone.
“I’m going to call Nick. Hand them over to him. See what he can find out.”
As she spoke to him on the phone, the Martinellis pulled up to the house. “Meet us at the end of the drive, would you, Nick? I don’t want anyone, including my folks, to know about this yet.”
Twenty minutes later, the three of them climbed out of the Jeep to meet Nick when he pulled up. “What’s with all the cloak-and-dagger stuff, Sasha?”
She handed him the bag, hands almost steady. “I think I found Tony’s clothes this morning.”
Nick’s eyes widened, and he said almost the same thing Jesse had. “Start at the beginning and don’t leave anything out.”
Sasha told him the whole story, just as she had Jesse. He didn’t interrupt, but his face gave nothing away, either.
Nick finally looked up from his little notebook. “We have all your fingerprints on file, so we can easily eliminate your prints.”
Sasha glanced at Blaze, who sighed. “Yeah, mine are in the system, too. Shoplifting. Long time ago.”
Blaze turned to Sasha and held out her hand. “Let me have your phone.” When Sasha raised a brow and handed it over, Blaze took pictures of the bag of clothes from all angles. “Just in case,” she mumbled as she handed them back.
“Given everything that’s been happening lately, is there some way you can check on all this . . . quietly?” Sasha met Nick’s eyes, and Jesse watched the two study each other for a long moment.
Nick seemed to come to some decision. “I’ll get them to a friend of mine at the law enforcement lab in Jacksonville. Have her check out the clothes on the down low. See if she can find prints, DNA, anything that will help. I’ll also head out to the woods and try to get hold of those spent cartridges, see if I can get a lead on the shooter. I’ll be in touch. In the meantime, you guys be careful.” He paused. “I wouldn’t mention this to anyone just yet.”
Nick headed back to town, and they went back to the marina. The minute Sasha stopped the Jeep, Blaze headed inside.
Jesse leaned against the vehicle.
“She’s OK?” he asked.
“Shaken up, but she’s tough.”
“Kind of like someone else I know.” He studied her eyes, but whatever feelings she had were carefully hidden. Her emotional distance suddenly made him furious.
His control snapped and he yanked her into his arms. “I could have lost you today. Don’t ever scare me like that again.” His mouth met hers in a frantic kiss, every worry pouring out of him. She met his emotional storm with her own, and the kiss went on and on, pulling them both under. He couldn’t lose her. He wouldn’t.
When he finally eased back, her eyes looked a little dazed.
“Have dinner with me.” He took her hand and started leading her toward his truck.
“Wait. Stop. I need to check in with the family.”
He stopped. “Right. Sorry. Go and I’ll wait here.”
She grinned and quipped, “You’ve got it bad.”
He laughed. “Yes, ma’am, I do.”
She disappeared inside the house and he paced, trying to get his fear under control. Frankly he didn’t want her out of his sight. This had gotten way out of control. Every primal instinct shouted for him to hide her away—along with her whole family—and hunt down this shooter, make sure they were safe. But he knew if he tried that, she’d eject him from her life forever.
He shoved a hand through his hair. This need to protect unsettled him with its depth. He’d never felt this way about anyone, and he wasn’t quite sure what to do with it.
When she reappeared twenty minutes later, she’d changed into a pair of jeans that hugged every curve, wedge-heel sandals, and a little black tank that played well with the jeans. She’d left her hair down, and it swung around her shoulders.
“You look amazing,” he said, and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Everyone OK?”
“Mama is tired after the doctor appointment, but her color is better.” She wouldn’t meet his eyes, so he cupped her chin and turned her to face him.
“What else?”
She shrugged, looked at the house, saw Blaze sitting on the porch. “Let’s talk about it later.”
He nodded and helped her into the truck, then headed toward town. “The Blue Dolphin? Or the new barbecue place out by the highway?”
“Let’s go with the Dolphin. I need comfort food.”
“Which for people like you and me is seafood.”
She smiled, but it was frayed around the edges.
“What are you thinking?”
“There was no blood anywhere. I checked every fridge out there. What if he’s alive? That changes everything.”
Jesse nodded. It did. Then they were looking at kidnapping, not drowning or murder. “It’s one heck of a tangled mess and means there are more secrets in this town than we thought.”
“But wouldn’t someone, somewhere, have seen or known something?”
“People have all kinds of reasons for keeping secrets, Sasha. Sometimes good ones.”
“How can this be one of those times?”
“I don’t know. But we’ll find out.”
He pulled into the parking lot of the Blue Dolphin and walked around to help Sasha out of the truck, unsurprised to find her already striding toward the door. He hurried to catch up so he could at least hold the door open.
Once they had ordered drinks and were mindlessly glancing at the menu, Sasha suddenly peered at him over the top of hers. “So are you going to tell me what’s on your mind?”
“Besides you, you mean? Have I mentioned you’re gorgeous?”
She just raised a brow.
He debated, again, where to start, and decided just to go with his gut. “I’m going to stay in this crazy little town after the race, settle down. Maybe paint over the pink of Aunt Clarabelle’s cottage.”
If he hadn’t been watching closely, he would have missed the way the shutters came down over her eyes and hid all her emotions.
“Really? After the warm welcome you’ve received, I thought you’d be eager to leave this place.”
“There is a lot to love about Safe Harbor. Namely—”
“What will you do for an income, exactly? It’s not l
ike there are races all the time.”
He let her shift the conversation. For now.
“I’m going to start a racing team. That wasn’t just talk, Sasha. I’m also going to see if Sal will let me take on some of the mechanic’s and boat-repair work at the marina. That will free him up to take care of Mama Rosa, do other things.”
Her eyes widened. “You’ve been thinking about this. You think Pop will go along with you doing his job?”
He shrugged. “We haven’t talked about that part yet. But I’m hoping he’ll like the idea.” He reached across the table and took both her hands in his. When she glanced around at the other diners and tried to pull away, he simply held tighter.
“Look, Sasha. I’m staying. Safe Harbor is a good place. With good people.”
“Except the ones who’ve been trying to kill us.”
“We’re going to figure all that out.”
“You’re seriously not worried?”
“Of course I’m worried. Somebody shot at you and Blaze today. Whatever this is, it’s escalating.”
“Then we need to come up with a plan and—”
“Not tonight. Let’s talk about something else. Like you and me, for instance.”
She snatched her hands away and folded them across her chest. “There is no you and me.”
“Isn’t there? Come on, Sash. You know that’s not true.”
She huffed out a breath, sent him one quick glance, then went back to studying the other diners. “I told you from day one that I’m not staying. I don’t want to hurt you. Why do you keep talking like this?”
Her panic and desperation hit him hard, but he couldn’t back down. He knew she had feelings for him, but her past wouldn’t let her admit it. He reached over and laid his hands on the table, palms up, and waited until she finally put hers in his again. He breathed a small sigh of relief.
“I’m saying this all wrong. Here’s the truth. I want you to stay here in Safe Harbor. With me.” He let go of one of her hands and reached into his pocket with the other. He held up the ring, a square-cut ruby surrounded by gold shaped like rope. “Marry me, Sasha.”
All the color drained from her face, replaced by pure panic. She started to get out of the booth, so he set the ring down and reached for her hands again. “Easy. It’s OK. You don’t have to give me an answer right now. Just think about it, OK?”
“Why?” she whispered.
“Why what?”
“Why do you want to marry me?”
Now it was his turn to panic. Could he tell her everything he felt for her? Bare his soul? Memories of his mother telling him at twelve years old that she needed more than his love to stay cut off his voice. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. “Because I . . . I . . .” He cleared his throat and tried again. “Because we’re good together. We enjoy the same things—”
Her eyes were great pools of misery when she looked at him. “It’s not enough. I can’t stay. I’m sorry,” she whispered, and raced out of the restaurant.
Her words froze him in his seat. It’s not enough. The words were hers, but in his mind, it was his mother speaking. By the time he dug out his wallet, threw some bills on the table, and slammed out the door, she was gone. He searched by the truck, looked up and down the street, but it was as if she’d vanished.
“Sasha!” He circled the parking lot again, looked in the alley leading away from the restaurant, then ran back out to the street. Which way would she go? Right or left? He knew she was tough and could take care of herself, but there was a crazy person with a rifle running around Safe Harbor. He ran several blocks along one side of the street, checked every cross street, then raced back down the other side. This time of night, most of the shops were closed and very few pedestrians roamed the streets. Where had she gone?
Heart pounding and ribs screaming in protest, he ran back to the Blue Dolphin and hopped into his truck. The tires squealed as he raced out of the parking lot.
Chapter 18
Sasha woke to pain. Everywhere. She opened her eyes but couldn’t see a thing. For a moment she thought she’d gone blind, but then she realized she was blindfolded. Not good, but better than blind.
Why did everything hurt? Where was she? She closed her eyes again and tried to determine if anything was broken. She’d only felt like this once before, when she’d tumbled halfway down a mountain while skiing.
Her brain felt like it had been wrapped in cotton. Putting two thoughts together took a lot more effort than it should have.
Slowly, bits and pieces of memory surfaced. The Blue Dolphin. Jesse’s crazy proposal. Didn’t he know she was a bad risk? Everyone she loved, she disappointed. Or worse. Look at the mess she’d made here with her family. And before that, in Russia. Her birth family died because of her.
Jesse thought that was crazy, but what did he know? The memories tried to push in, but she shoved them away. She had to focus on now. Today. Think, Sash. What happened?
OK, he’d proposed, the crazy man, and she’d run out of the restaurant like a coward. Not her finest hour. But she hadn’t been able to stay. If she had, she might have said yes. Probably would have. Jesse made her want things she’d never considered wanting, like a home, maybe even a family. Could she stay? For Jesse?
Her heartbeat sped up, so she forced out a slow breath. Focus. Don’t think about that now.
So, she’d run outside, and then—
She searched her fuzzy brain and came up empty. What happened next? She couldn’t remember.
Maybe she’d been drugged. But why?
Tony.
It was the only answer that made sense. This had to do with her search for Tony. She tried to sit up and couldn’t. Her hands were tied behind her back. She shifted her legs again and realized why she couldn’t move them. They were bound, too.
Panic washed over her, but she forced her mind to calm down. In her years as a captain, she’d learned the best way to survive an emergency was to take a few precious seconds and think before you acted. Assess the situation.
She rubbed her fingers back and forth and decided she was lying on a dirt floor. She sniffed the air. Musty, with a layer of hay and the underlying smell of dung. So chances were someone had stashed her in a barn.
What were they going to do with her?
The smart thing would be to get out of here before they came back.
She wiggled herself to a sitting position and tried to figure out how to get her hands free. Whoever had tied her up knew what they were doing and wanted to ensure she wasn’t going anywhere. Instead of rope, they’d used duct tape, and it wouldn’t budge. Her feet were bound the same way, and no amount of twisting and tugging loosened the tape. At all.
The blindfold had to go, but she didn’t want it completely off, lest they notice if they came back. She rubbed her face against the ground, back and forth, back and forth, getting dirt in her mouth and spitting it out. Finally whatever smelly bit of cloth they’d tied around her head moved the slightest bit, and she could see splinters of light between the cracks in the building. She scooted her body around to see better.
Yes, she was in a barn. A big old one. There were several holes in the roof that let in shafts of light. Streaks of pink colored the sky. It must be morning.
How was she going to get out of here? Think, Sasha. What day is it? She tried to shake her head, but pain shot through her temples. Come on, fog, clear. Today was . . . Friday. Which meant the big race was tomorrow. Jesse needed her to captain The Painted Lady and win that race.
He said he didn’t need her, but he did. He couldn’t take the helm with those ribs.
But first, she had to get out of here before whoever took her came back. Just thinking about the shooter in the woods sent a chill down her spine and propelled her into action. Tied up like this, she was at their mercy.
After a lot of groaning and panting, she managed to get up on her knees. From there, she tried to hop to her feet, but she lost her balance and crashed face-first onto t
he ground.
She spit out dirt and wondered briefly if anyone had missed her yet or if they just figured she’d run off again, as usual. Either way, it didn’t matter. She had to get out of here.
She rolled until she was next to the wall, then maneuvered to her knees again. This time, when she hopped up, she crashed into the rough barn wall, but at least she was upright. OK, now to get out of here.
She stood, leaning against the wall, trying to catch her breath and figure out her next move. As her eyes scanned the gloom, searching for a way out, a shadow separated itself. She caught one quick glimpse of a dark figure before something jabbed her in the arm.
Everything went black.
Jesse pulled in to the marina just as the sky began to lighten. He’d spent several hours last night trying to find Sasha before he called the police, not sure what else to do. He’d asked for Nick, but the dispatcher said he was off duty and patched him through to Chief Monroe instead. Not surprisingly, the chief speculated she’d just run off for a few hours to clear her head.
Had she? She used to do it when they were in high school. When she was overwhelmed, she took off for a while. Last night he’d called her cell every fifteen minutes, but it went right to voice mail. Meaning she didn’t want to talk to him. He’d said he’d give her time to get used to the idea. Which was fine, but he had to know that’s all her disappearance was. A little voice had been hounding him all night, telling him she wouldn’t vanish without a word. Not now, not with things with Mama Rosa the way they were and a crazy with a rifle on the loose.
When he’d run off the road because he’d nodded off behind the wheel, he went home set the alarm, and forced himself to sleep for exactly one hour. He wouldn’t do her any good if he crashed into a tree.
He now headed down the dock to the marina store, worry building even as he hoped to find her behind the counter so he could give her what for.
“Morning, Jesse.” Sal looked up from an account ledger as he walked in.
“Morning, Sal. Is Sasha working this morning?”
“Not today. She has the morning off.” He raised a brow. “I heard you caused quite a stir at the Blue Dolphin last night, something about candlelight and a ring.”