by Rose Pressey
“What the hell are you calling so early for?” he asked.
“I think something is going on,” I said.
“Don’t be enigmatic. Tell me what’s up.”
“Porter Brennan and some other dude was harassing Chloe last night.”
“Well, I’m not surprised, the guy is a creep.”
“Yeah, well, some other dude he was talking to was messing around at my office,” I said.
“What did you say to him?” he asked.
“I didn’t catch him to say anything, but I’d like a chance to.”
Ty chuckled. “I guess that’s where I come in.”
I turned the truck’s ignition. “That’s the plan, yes.”
“As soon as he’s in the office we’ll go talk with the inspector.”
After telling him where to find me, I leaned my head back on the truck’s seat and waited. I closed my eyes, but all I saw was Chloe’s sweet face. I needed to focus on other things and not let myself get wrapped up with a fantasy that she was going to stay around Belle Grove.
Once her uncle was back in town, she would be gone. If only there was a way for me to get her to stay. Where did we go from here?
I was startled by a horn honking from behind me. I opened my eyes and looked in the rear-view mirror. Apparently I’d dozed off because it was now eight in the morning. Ty was in his police cruiser behind me. He motioned for me to get in.
I climbed into the passenger seat.
“What’s the plan?” he asked.
‘I want to find out who this man is who was messing around my office.”
“Why didn’t you go after him?” Ty asked.
“I did, but I guess he got away. Chloe had seen a boat with a few men on it earlier. I think that’s how he got away.”
Ty tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. His police radio crackled in the background. “I think the best place to start is if we pay the inspector a visit.”
I nodded. “He told Chloe that she should leave town and I want to find out why he would say that. What does he care if she’s in town? He doesn’t know her.”
“Unless he’s done something with her uncle and he’s afraid she’ll find out.”
I released a deep breath. “I didn’t want to say it, but yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.”
“Look, maybe we’ll be wrong,” Ty said.
“There’s only one way to find out,” I said.
He started the car and we pulled out onto the road. As we made our way down Main, I glanced over at the hotel parking lot. Chloe’s car was still parked in the same spot. I hoped that she would be okay. Ty parked his car in front of the building which housed the inspector’s office.
Ty knocked on the door. “Go away,” Porter said from the other side.
“Belle Grove Police,” Ty replied in a stern voice.
Noise sounded from the other side and then the door opened. When the inspector saw us he said, “What do you want?”
“Now is that any way to talk to your old friend from the police department?” Ty said.
Porter snorted and walked across the room. “Old friend, my ass.”
“I guess we’ll invite ourselves in,” I said.
He sat at his desk and looked us up and down. “To what do I owe this pleasure?” he quipped.
Ty and I sat in the chairs in front of his desk. “Why don’t you tell him why we’re here,” Ty said without looking at me.
I leaned back and stared at Porter for a moment. “Why were you harassing Chloe Beaumont last night?”
Porter chuckled. “Hell, I knew you’d be in there today asking me that. We had too many drinks. We were just having some fun. She must have taken what we said the wrong way.”
That was a pathetic excuse and I knew he was full of crap. “Who was the guy you were talking to last night?”
“That’s Frank. He works for me,” he said.
“No, not at the bar. The man you were talking to early this morning. You drove away with him in a white car,” I said.
“Are you following me?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No, not following you. Just doing a little research. See, we like to know what’s going on in Belle Grove too, don’t we, Ty.”
Ty nodded. “Yep.”
“I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
“So you didn’t drive away in a white car this morning with two other men?” I asked.
He shook his head, but avoided my stare. “Nope, I was at home. Some of us like to get our beauty sleep, you know.”
“It’s not working,” Ty quipped.
Porter laughed. “So I’ve been told.”
I crossed my arms in front of my chest. “I don’t think you’re being honest with us.”
“Why don’t you tell us where to find this guy?” Ty asked.
Porter leaned back and glared at me. “I told you I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
“Look, we know he was trying to break into Grant’s office last night. If we have to hunt him down then it could be bad for you too,” Ty said.
“Is that a threat?” He continued to glare at us.
Ty shook his head. “No, not a threat, just a fact.”
Porter tapped his fingers against his desk. “If I find out who it is, then I’ll be sure to let you know. Now is there anything else I can do for you all?”
“I take it you won’t be bothering Chloe anymore?” I asked.
He stared for a moment longer and then offered a fake smile. “No, of course not, and if I upset her I’m truly sorry. Please offer my sincere apologies.”
I nodded as I pushed to my feet. I wished I could get the truth out of this guy, but it didn’t look as if it was going to be that easy. I would get to the bottom of it though.
“Thanks for the visit now,” he said as we walked out the door.
“What do you think?” I asked as we made our way back to Ty’s car.
“Yeah, he’s full of it. I’ll ask around and see what I can find out.”
“There’s something to this disappearance and I have a feeling this guy knows what that is. Chloe mentioned that her uncle’s card had been used recently.”
“Can you get me that info?” Ty asked.
“I’ll see what I can find out,” I said.
For Chloe’s sake I hoped she found her uncle soon. Although the closer we got the worse I felt about not seeing her again.
“I’ve not liked that guy for as long as I can remember. Hell, the day he showed up in town I knew he was trouble,” Ty said.
“You think he’s lying?” I asked.
“I know he’s lying,” Ty said. “I just need to find a way to prove it.”
“Yeah, and find out why. What was the connection between her uncle and him?”
“I’ll look into that too. You should talk to Anna Louise at the diner. She dated him for some time,” he said. “I bet Porter will be in the bar again tonight. Maybe I should check it out.”
“It couldn’t hurt to try,” I said. “Maybe I’ll come with you.”
Ty cast a glance over at me. “You think Chloe will be there?”
I ignored his question. “I think he knows about her uncle. I won’t stop until I find out the truth.”
“I’ve never seen you so persistent before,” he said.
“I guess it’s my way of making up for the past.”
He nodded. “I can understand that. You did mess things up with her pretty good. You let a good thing go. She looks good and seems just as sweet as I remember.”
He wasn’t making me feel better. But I couldn’t deny that he was being honest.
“So how do I find out what’s going on?” I wanted to steer the conversation away from Chloe.
He looked at his watch. “I need to get to work, but I’ll ask around and let you know. In the meantime, I’m going to look into what he’s been doing.”
“I appreciate that. I can’t guarantee that I won’t check him out on my own,” I said.
“What do you mean? Don’t cause more problems. I don’t need you in jail for assaulting this guy.”
“Hey, what do you think I am? I wouldn’t do anything to him unless provoked.”
Ty stared for a beat and then said, “Yeah, my guess is he’ll do something to provoke you.”
I shrugged. “The man has an attitude. That tells me that he’s guilty of something.”
“Well, it tells me that he’s just an asshole,” Ty said.
“Yeah, that too.”
I opened the car door and got out. He opened the passenger side window. “I tried to call you last night. Is that when you were at the bar?”
I nodded. “Probably.”
“It was kind of late though. I’m surprised you didn’t hear your phone.” He quirked a brow.
“What are you getting at?”
“Are you sure the bar is the only place you went last night? Did you spend some time with Chloe?”
“None of your business,” I said.
“You might as well come clean with me,” he warned.
“Yeah, I’ll make sure to do that.” I didn’t want him reminding me of my past mistakes so there was no reason to share the latest developments with him.
“Make sure you keep an eye on Chloe.” He smiled. “But I guess I don’t need to tell you that, huh? I guess you’ve got that covered.”
I shook my head and walked off. I knew I would hear the end of this from him. He’d always given me attitude for losing her.
Flashes of Chloe ran through my mind and I knew I had to find her uncle and the reason why the inspector was telling her to leave town. But where would I start? Since I had the day off, I knew I had time to poke around town. I’d head home and jump in the shower, then head out and see what I could find out. Maybe I’d stop in and check on Chloe too. We could grab some lunch and discuss the situation… and I could catch another kiss.
Chapter Twenty-One
Chloe needed to erase Grant from her mind
I couldn’t believe what Grant had done. Yes, secretly I was glad that he’d swooped me up in a big kiss, but I couldn’t let him know that. How long would I continue to ignore the elephant in the room? I wouldn’t be able to keep this up forever if I stayed in Belle Grove for much longer. That was why I needed to get out of there soon.
Of course that brought me back to the main problem: I needed to find my uncle. I was no closer to finding him than when Gina had first called me.
Ignoring Grant wouldn’t be an option, so I’d have to just deal with him until I left. No more kisses though. I’d have to keep my distance. I guessed going to breakfast with him had probably given him the wrong impression. I appreciated his help, but it just made matters worse. I didn’t need to fall in love again and just have my heart broken. Life was much easier without dealing with that kind of pain. I’d let the characters in my novels deal with those kind of problems. It was their story, not mine, and that was the way I wanted it to stay.
There was one thing I hadn’t figured out though. Why was Grant helping me? He certainly didn’t have to. After all this time he couldn’t have acted as if he’d never seen me. I had ignored his calls for the first year and then he’d given up, so why was he trying to help me now? Maybe I was being too suspicious and maybe there was no motive other than just being nice. Of course I could just come right out and ask him, but I figured that would bring up the topic I wanted to avoid.
I looked over at the bed where he had been lying just a short time ago. I shook off the thought. I’d jump in the shower, slip into a change of clothing, and then take off for a little poking around. With any luck, I’d find something that would help me find my uncle.
After stepping out of the shower, I pulled on a pair of denim shorts and a black T-shirt. Then I slipped on my sneakers and pulled my hair back into a pony tail. It was going to be another hot day and I knew the humidity would get the best of my hair.
As much as it made me sad to go back to my uncle’s place, I decided to give it another try. At least I could look around again to find something that might lead me to his whereabouts.
Every time I drove down his street I had to look over at Grant’s. It was like an accident and I couldn’t look away. This time I tried my best not to look over, but as I passed his driveway I couldn’t control it and I glanced over. At least it was just a quick glance though. I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t see his truck in the driveway.
After parking the car I made the small walk up the path and to my uncle’s front door. Just a short time ago I had been there with Gina. I opened the door and stepped into the dim space. Although it was daytime, the space never got much sun because of all the surrounding trees. I flipped on the switch in the hallway and flooded the room with light. It looked the same as the other day when I’d been there, but of course I knew that it would.
Now that I was back I had no idea what I was looking for or where to look for it. I would just start with the living room and then work my way through the rest of the house. I stepped over to the living room and gave a quick glance around the room. Beige walls without any pictures made for a bland room. There wasn’t much there or many places to store stuff so I moved on to the kitchen/dining room. I shifted through the papers on the table, but only found receipts and bill stubs. There were a few dirty dishes in the sink and I wanted to wash them. There was no time right now though.
I remembered seeing papers in his office, so I decided to head to that room next. I was beginning to feel this was a wasted trip though. It was hard not to get discouraged after this much time with no leads to my uncle’s whereabouts. I moved down the dimly lit hallway and took a peek in the bedroom first before going across the hall to the office. I wanted to make his bed and put away the clean laundry he’d left on the bed, but like the dishes, there was no time. Next I moved over to the office.
I stepped into the room. It was a little lighter in there since the sun was shining at the front of the house and bouncing in the windows at the front of the room. I stood in the middle of the room and placed my hands on my hips. Where to start? There was a file cabinet and a desk, so I decided to look through the desk first.
I rooted around in the desk but didn’t notice anything different from the last time I was in there. I was just about to give up when I glanced to my left and saw a cassette tape. I hadn’t seen one of those in years, not since I listened to my mother’s Madonna cassette. I placed it back on the desk and continued to look through the desk. I still hadn’t found anything so I moved over to the file cabinet. I looked through each cabinet but the files were mostly empty. I turned around and released a deep breath.
That was when my eyes traveled back to the cassette tape on the desk. There was something written on it that I hadn’t noticed before. I stepped back to the desk and picked up the tape. It had the inspector’s name written on it. That was really odd. Why would my uncle have a tape with Porter Brennan’s name written on it? This definitely had me curious and only added to the mystery. I had to know what was on that tape. I stuffed the tape in my pocket and headed out the door back into the hallway.
How would I get this thing to play? I didn’t have a tape player and I didn’t know anyone who had one either. Did they even sell them anymore? Would I find one at the antique store? I turned back around and into the office. He had to have a tape player somewhere in the house. The first place to look would be in his office. It would probably be somewhere near where he’d had the tape. Unfortunately the player wasn’t near the tape. I looked through the rest of the room but couldn’t find the player anywhere.
After checking everywhere else in the house that I could think of I realized that there was no player there. How had he listened to the tape? Had he listened to it? If he had it then why would he have not listened to it? I would have to find a player somewhere. My uncle had to have a player, but I’d given up on finding it. There was a Walmart in town and I prayed that I could find one there. If they didn’t have one then who would? I’
d have to ask around town to see who had one. Surely someone would. I wondered if the inspector knew if my uncle had taped him. Was that what the tape was? It was the only logical thing I could think of.
I’d just made it across the floor and to the front door when I heard noise. It sounded like someone was outside the door. My heart rate increased. I peeked out the window and saw Grant headed toward the door. Damn. He’d obviously seen my car but I didn’t want to talk to him. Would it be immature of me to hide from him? Probably but that wasn’t going to stop me from doing it. I’d already said that I had issues. This was one of them.
I ran over the living room, almost tripping over the coffee table. I cussed as I limped over toward the sofa. The door opened and I knew that he was coming inside. Not that I had doubted that but now it was being confirmed. There was no place for me to hide really. The only place I had to duck was behind the sofa. So that was exactly what I did. I knelt down and tried to steady my breathing so that he wouldn’t hear me. The door opened and I held my breath, wondering if he could see me.
I peeked out from behind the sofa. Grant stood there looking down the hallway. He hadn’t called out to me yet. But that was when he said, “Chloe?”
Then I realized that I was being ridiculous hiding from him like a little kid. I had to come out and let him know that I was there. He still had no idea that I was hiding behind the sofa. If he turned around he would see me peeking out at him like a fool. What had I been thinking? I had to stop this craziness.
I stepped out from behind the sofa and walked toward Grant. He still hadn’t turned around and noticed me. He’d inched further into the kitchen area, so I went after him. I was just glad that he hadn’t seen me hiding behind furniture. Now I could pretend that had never happened. By the time I caught up, he’d moved all the way into the kitchen. I was surprised that he hadn’t heard my footsteps trailing him.
Grant looked dashing today as usual and I hated that I was actually thinking about his looks. There were clearly more important things. When I was right up behind him, I gripped his shoulder. “What are you doing here?”