Dangerous Waters

by Toni Anderson

  Even though the coffee tempted her, Holly refrained from accepting a cup. “We’ve got some questions about a man named Len Milbank.”

  “I heard they found his body out at Crow Point.”

  The RCMP hadn’t released that the body had been found inside the shipwreck. In fact, they hadn’t even released details of the new shipwreck to the public yet, but this was a small town. They’d all know soon enough.

  “We’re trying to figure out what Mr. Milbank was doing out there.”

  Brent Carver opened his eyes and looked straight at her. She blinked because his eyes were the exact same color as Finn’s but his were bleak. Empty.

  “Why would you ask me?”

  “You were in Wilkinson prison at the same time as Mr. Milbank.”

  “Me and three hundred–plus other inmates.”

  “But you knew him?” Holly pushed.

  “We weren’t friends.” He put his cup on the solid oak table beside the sofa.

  “That’s not what I asked.”

  A line creased his cheek as one side of his mouth twisted up. “I knew him.”

  “When was the last time you saw Mr. Milbank?”

  “I don’t rightly recall.”

  “Have you seen him since you left prison?” Holly watched that face closely.

  A shrug. “In passing.”

  “Do you scuba dive?”

  His face scrunched up, and he stretched out all his limbs in an all-body yawn. “Sometimes. Not often, though.”

  “Can we see your equipment?”

  “Get a warrant.”

  “You got something to hide?” asked Malone.

  He cracked out a sharp laugh. “Something to lose. Something I’ve grown attached to, this time around. My freedom.”

  “You haven’t talked to Mr. Milbank during the last two weeks?”

  His eyes watched her the way a tiger watched a bunny. It had been a long time since she’d felt like the bunny. “No.”

  “What do you do for a living, Mr. Carver?”

  “How’s that relevant?”

  Holly tried to smile, but it tugged at all her bruises. Ouch. “Just trying to get a picture of your life, Mr. Carver. And figure out how you can afford all this.” She waved at the gleaming wood and sparkling new appliances and enormous original oil painting of the view outside that hung over the fireplace.

  “You’re trying to take the easy route in your investigation and pin it on the ex-con.” His lips curled. There was no love for the police in those eyes.

  “You did kill your father.” Malone paced around the kitchen island. “You must have known you’d be top of our list of suspects.”

  “Oh, I knew. That’s the only reason I let you in the door. Lack of imagination has always been a problem for police officers.” Brent Carver unwound from the couch and climbed to his feet. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave now. I’ve got work to do.” His smile was fixed and cold and crept up Holly’s spine in a silky wave of unease.

  Malone shook his head with a smile and turned to leave.

  A frown touched Brent’s brow. “What happened to your face?”

  Holly touched her nose. “Car wreck. Someone ran me off the road.”

  He laughed, chilling her blood. “So your next question is where was I yesterday afternoon?”

  “How did you know when the wreck occurred?”

  He raised a hand as if to touch her face. She froze. He dropped it. “Let’s just say I have a lot of experience with bruises.”

  She suddenly found herself on the back porch, standing beside Malone, staring up at the closed door of the luxury log cabin.

  Malone rolled his shoulders. “I’d say we’ve found ourselves a potential suspect, Sergeant. Shall I see if I can get a warrant?”

  She shook her head. “Right now we’ve got nothing on him, not even circumstantial. Let him sweat. We’ll keep digging.”

  Finn stood outside the store, petting a local family’s English bulldog while waiting for Laura to put aside some groceries for her return trip home. The supply boat had come into port today and fresh stuff didn’t last long. She lived alone on the west side of the inlet, just down the road from where he’d grown up. Last summer he’d bumped into her in this store, and she’d asked if he knew anyone who could rebuild her dock for her. He’d volunteered because it kept him occupied in the little time he had off, plus it kept him fit.

  He glanced along the boardwalk. Holly and another RCMP officer were heading toward the front door of the hotel.

  Holly glanced toward him, her skin maybe a fraction less swollen than when he’d checked on her that morning, blue-black all around both eyes. Sore as hell. She said something to her buddy and changed direction to walk toward him.

  She gave him an uncertain attempt at a smile, and he suddenly realized she was knocked off balance because she could no longer use her beauty to bamboozle people. Good job she hadn’t figured out he was attracted to her no matter what she looked like.

  “How are you feeling?” His gaze rested on her swollen lips and damn if he didn’t want to swoop down for another taste.

  “I’ve had better days,” she admitted.

  They both hung over the wooden rail and stared at the ocean. A seal bobbed up and down in the wind-ruffled water.

  “Do you make a habit of rescuing damsels in distress?” she asked after a moment.

  Finn laughed and shook his head. “You’re definitely my first.”

  An amused gleam lit her eyes. “Somehow I doubt that.”

  “Seriously, most people I’d leave floundering in a ditch. Obviously, I have a thing for women in uniform.”

  Her eyes flashed as if she couldn’t quite believe he was flirting with a woman who looked like she did. He couldn’t believe it either. Damn, the memory of that wreck had haunted his dreams last night, along with a few erotic musings of just how many bruises he could kiss better. Among other things.

  “You must have saved people in the army.”

  One shoulder kicked up. She knew he couldn’t talk about it any more than she could talk about her investigation.

  Gray eyes watched him. “I met your brother earlier.”

  His entire being froze. Her words were like a kick in the gut. The people he cared about couldn’t afford the attraction he felt for her. Hell, he couldn’t afford it.

  “Family reunions are always a blast.” Why couldn’t someone have dumped Milbank’s body in the open ocean? It would be in goddamn Alaska by now.

  Laura came out of the store wearing black slacks and some sort of arty purple sweater with a matching scarf draped around her neck. In her early fifties, she exuded a relaxed beauty that was incredibly easy to be around. He hoped Laura and Thom might hook up, although he wasn’t exactly renowned for his matchmaking skills.

  “Laura, meet Holly. Holly, meet Laura.”

  “You must be the police officer involved in the car wreck yesterday.” Laura held out her hand to shake Holly’s.

  “What gave it away?” Holly joked. “The wild hairstyle? Crazy makeup?”

  Christ. He started shaking. Some bastard had tried to kill her yesterday, and today she was laughing about it. He’d done it himself in military situations where bullets had missed their target by inches and they’d had lucky escapes, but to see Holly doing it today was more than he could physically stand.

  “I need to get back to work ASAP.” He checked his watch. “Come on.” He took Laura by the arm and strode to the top of the gangplank.

  “Any chance we could borrow a boat to shuttle across the inlet?” Holly called after him.

  Inside he was torn by conflicting emotions. The mindless male inside him wanted to look after her, protect her, even though she was the one packing heat. The suspicious friend and brother wanted to get as far away from her as possible. He set his teeth for a moment. “I’ll send Rob across.”

  Holly followed them down onto the dock. Despite everything, he didn’t want the connection to end.

&n
bsp; “Thanks again for looking out for me yesterday,” she said.

  “No problem.” It was terse and it was a lie. Thanks to yesterday’s accident his emotions had been involved. Circumstances were bringing them closer all the time, but his loyalty to Thom and his brother had to top any feelings of attraction.

  He helped Laura into her seat, handed her a life vest, and didn’t look back as he rowed them across the inlet. When he got out on the other side and glanced across, the cops were gone. Laura was watching him, and not a lot got past her.

  “What?” he asked sharply.

  “I’ve never seen you be rude to a woman before.”

  “I wasn’t rude.”

  “She unnerves you.” Her eyes sparkled. “You like her.”

  He grunted.

  She kept quiet but grinned and ruined it.

  “She’s only here for the investigation.” He reminded himself as much as her. He walked her up to Thom’s house and, when no one answered the door, realized that he’d been outmaneuvered. A nervous tic started beneath his right eye. He called the office, but no one answered.

  “Sonofabitch.” He kicked a stone and it shot along the path.

  “Maybe an emergency came up?” Laura suggested. But he could tell by the shadow in her eyes she’d figured it out too. Thom had blown off their meeting. Finn was going to kick his boss’s ass when he tracked him down.

  CHAPTER 9

  As the RCMP SUV was now a crumpled lump of steel, Holly decided to walk to the local library from the marine lab. They’d had another vehicle assigned to use as a runabout, and Steffie was driving it out later that afternoon. For now, Holly was just glad it had stopped raining.

  Jeff was typing up notes. Corporals Malone and Chastain were conducting more door-to-door inquiries using the photographs as visual aids. Messenger was trying to compile a list of divers. She had other plans.

  The sound of a branch snapping just beyond her line of sight in the woods had her swinging around, heart hammering. Just the wind or Bambi playing in the woods. Tall trees loomed overhead, and the wind whispered through the needles and made them rattle. Primal fear slipped into the marrow of her bones and lengthened her stride.

  Sweat pearled on her brow. Her hand rested on her Smith & Wesson and she started jogging. It hurt, but she needed the exercise. Yeah, that’s the only reason you’re running.

  She turned a corner and there was the school, which also housed the library. Relieved, she slowed to a brisk walk. Some of the kids looked her way and she waved.

  See, kids, not scared at all, although I’m pretty damned scary judging from the expressions of horror on their faces. No wonder Finn’s attitude had done an abrupt one-eighty today. Not that she wanted to explore the electricity that had sparked between them last night, but the unexpected coldness when they’d parted company earlier had hurt—and that had been a shock to the system.

  Men had lost the power to hurt her when the guy she was falling for had left her bed to pick up his cell phone and find out his wife had gone into premature labor.

  Jackass.

  The urge to gag, even now, rose up in her throat. She ignored it. Today was all about pretense and getting the job done. She wasn’t sore, wasn’t humiliated to her core, and she looked like a million dollars.

  She skirted the building and went in the front door. No one was in the first room, so she continued into the atrium of the school, where there were chairs and rugs and shelves of kids’ books. She glanced about, tapped on the glass door of an office. “Hi there, I’m looking for the librarian.”

  The woman sitting there was in her late thirties, early forties. Wavy brown hair and pretty eyes. “That’s me. You must be the Mountie who got run off the road.”

  News traveled fast in this place. “How’d you figure that out?” Holly moved her lips into what should be a smile but didn’t know whether or not she pulled it off. She laughed and was glad she still sounded like herself.

  “The panda makeup.” The woman’s voice was sweet and clear. “It was all over town that Finn Carver rescued you and carried you into the hospital like some white knight.” She fanned herself dramatically, but the smile and gentle humor seemed genuine. “I always thought he had heroic tendencies.”

  Most women might appreciate the fantasy of a strong man “saving” them. Trouble was, Holly came from a long line of cops and preferred to save herself.

  “I’m Gina Swartz. How can I help you?”

  Holly asked her about the maps and documents Finn had been researching last week. Gina showed her where the maps were kept but didn’t remember anything except which day he’d been in.

  After thirty minutes and a dozen sneezes that made her ribs shriek, Holly realized there was nothing here. Dead end. She put the maps away and smiled at Gina, who was talking quietly on the phone, left the building, and headed into town.

  She entered the tiny community hospital/clinic and saw the nurse from yesterday.

  The woman shot her a look over her reading glasses and winced. “You survived a night of Finn’s ministrations?” Her smile was warm and sympathetic.

  The cut on Holly’s lips tugged painfully. “He’s not the worst nurse I’ve ever had.”

  “Plus he’s easy on the eyes.” The woman smiled again. “Now, I need a little information from you.”

  Holly leaned over the desk giving her home address and medical number.

  “Your full name is Holly Rudd, right?”

  “Holly Francesca Rudd.”

  “That’s a beautiful name.”

  “Thanks. Francesca was my mother’s name.”

  “Was? You lost her?”

  “Nearly two years ago.” She pushed through the break in her voice.

  “I’m very sorry.” The nurse unexpectedly touched her hand. “I had a dream once where I thought my son was dead. It was so real I thought I’d die from the pain. When I woke up I ran to his crib and there he was smiling up at me like a little angel. Losing someone you love is hard.”

  Holly nodded and shifted away from the well-meaning nurse. Talking about something so private, so personal was not on Holly’s agenda. Cops were suspicious by nature. It wasn’t that her family didn’t talk about their feelings, they just didn’t talk about their feelings with people they didn’t trust. And they didn’t trust strangers.

  Maybe this was part of Holly’s problem right now. She couldn’t talk about how she felt about losing her mother with her dad because they were both still too raw. But keeping her emotions bottled up wasn’t helping her any either. An image of Finn Carver’s smiling face flashed through her mind. And that was exactly the same sort of stupid-ass impulse that had led to the monumental fiasco with Furlong.

  “Next of kin?” the nurse asked, filling out the form.

  “Terry Rudd. Lives in Vancouver.”

  “Husband? Father?”

  “My dad.”

  “Have you always lived in Vancouver?”

  Holly frowned and tried to look at the paper.

  The nurse blushed. “Oh, it isn’t for the form, I’m just curious. Probably because you look so much like—”

  “Bianca Edgefield.” The doctor came out of his room and smiled. “I don’t know why I didn’t see the resemblance yesterday—although considering the facial bruising, maybe it’s not such a surprise. Glad to see you’re still with us.” He glanced at the waiting room. “I think, given the circumstances, you better jump the queue.”

  There were a few sour glances from people, but Holly wasn’t going to complain or be noble. She had work to do, so she followed the doctor to the exam room.

  “You knew Bianca Edgefield?” She sat on his examination bench, and he started going through all the usual stuff: heart, lungs, blood pressure.

  “She was a patient of mine, although, only when she and Thom were in Bamfield. Those kids were so sweet…” His voice trailed off in sadness.

  They were both silent as the blood pressure cuff released its tight grip on her arm.
r />   “Did you know Len Milbank?” she asked.

  “Who?”

  “Len Milbank is the murder victim we found—”

  “Ah, the man in the shipwreck.” His eyes widened with excitement. “It’s all over town, but no, I hadn’t had the dubious pleasure of Mr. Milbank’s company.” He smiled and slapped a cold stethoscope on her back. Jesus.

  She’d known the information would leak soon. She hadn’t expected it to leak quite this fast. She asked a few more questions but basically got nothing except small talk. Ten minutes later, she was dressed and out of his office. As she walked down the hall, a man walked in carrying a bunch of bloodred roses.

  She nodded a greeting.

  His step hitched momentarily as he took in her battered appearance. Then he nodded and swept past her to knock on the nurse’s open door.

  Compelled by curiosity, she turned to watch. The nurse came out from behind her desk with a huge smile on her lips. “Oh, honey. You shouldn’t be wasting money on me.”

  He leaned down and kissed her on the lips. “Buying flowers for my true love is never a waste.” He winked. “Plus, I got a great deal.”

  There was a little quiver in the region of Holly’s heart. The nurse grinned up at her husband, then, realizing people were looking at them, she put her hands to her flaming cheeks.

  Holly turned away.

  Her dad had bought her mom flowers every week for as long as she could remember. The scent of roses brought an upwelling of longing so strong she wanted to cry. She hurried outside, sucked in a couple of deep breaths. Noticed Mike Toben sitting in his truck, looking impatient. She waved at him, and he gave her a slow grin.

  Needing something to do as opposed to mourning her mother, she went to talk to him. Finn wasn’t around to censor her today.

  “Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”

  “You should see the other guy.” She propped her hand on the open window and leaned into the cab.

  “I can well believe it.” He winced in sympathy.

  “So how well do you know Remy Dryzek?”

  He gave her a lopsided grin that was all bedroom eyes and easy charm. “I know him well enough to say hi to when I meet him in a bar.”