by Claire Adams
I’d had about enough of his intimidation. “We didn’t know about the murders when we married.”
“Ah, well then, your luck really sucks. However,” he swept his arm out to indicate the home and fortune around us, “I guess you’re not that unlucky.
He was a child being childish, and I wasn’t about to engage any further with him. Besides, his mother had probably put him up to it. “Well, it was nice to meet you.” I turned and swam to the middle of the pool.
“Was it?” He raised his voice across the space and it echoed off the water.
“Was it what?”
He downed the rest of his beer and stripped off his shirt. His chest was a much slimmer version of his uncle’s, but just as fit. I started to worry that he’d get in the water with me, but instead he kicked off his loafers and socks before rolling up his pants.
“I said, was it nice to meet me, Luna? Do you have water in your ears?” I shook my head and hoped if I stopped engaging, he’d go away, but without any concern for me, he dipped his feet over the edge and into the water.
“Come on, talk to me. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to spend time with a beautiful woman.”
“You favor him.” His face twisted as his mouth pulled into a tight line. I hoped that it bothered him. I remembered Gabriel saying how he resented him and how he’d been acting out lately. Gabe would have been livid if he knew Harbor was imposing on me. Maybe that’s what he wanted.
“I look like my dad.” His tone had deepened, and anger flashed in his gray eyes, so hard, like his uncle’s.
“I’m sure you do, but you look like your uncle, too.” I paddled myself around a bit before hovering in the center of the pool. “It makes sense. They were brothers. Besides, I’d take it as a compliment.”
His smirk was back in full tilt. “Oh, so you like what you see.” It wasn’t a question, and though I had to admit he was gorgeous, I had no interest in him at all.
I forced laughter, and his brows lifted as he pegged me with a hard stare. He didn’t like me laughing at him, and I exploited his insecurity. “Only because you remind me of your uncle. I imagine you’ll grow up to be a lot like him.”
That remark had him jerking his feet from the water, but he didn’t stand up. Instead, he kept his knees bent and spread his legs, aiming his crotch toward the pool.
“I bet I could be like him in other ways too. Maybe better, even.” He licked his bottom lip, tucking it beneath the top one.
I swam to the side of the pool and pulled myself out to sit on the edge, keeping distance between us. I’d heard all I wanted and couldn’t believe this guy was a breath away from offering himself to me. I stood and walked a few steps to gather my robe and shoes. His eyes stayed on me.
“Don’t go.” He laughed playfully. “I’ll behave. I’ve had a little too much to drink, and well…you look damned fine in that bikini.”
I took in a long breath, leveling my glare. “Your uncle wouldn’t like the way you’re talking to me.”
“Maybe he won’t like the way you’re talking to me.” He stood to his feet as I wrapped the robe tighter and tied the belt. Harbor closed the distance between us, positioning between me and the house. I stepped back, but couldn’t go far enough to get away without stepping into the pool. “He might not like the way you pranced around in that skimpy bathing suit. I’ve heard he’s a man that doesn’t like to share.”
That last comment was a dig about his father, I was sure. But he wouldn’t know I knew anything about that, and I wasn’t going to say a word against his dead father, not even to defend Gabriel. “I’m sure he knows better.”
“Confident, I like that. I’m sure all of his old girlfriends were the same way once. At least this time he’s picked a fighter.” The way he talked about the dead women sent chills down my back. I wondered if they’d fought off their attacker, and noticed Harbor didn’t have any visible sores or scratches.
I held my arm out to get around him, but he put himself in front of me as I stepped forward, right into his body.
“Oops, excuse me.” His hot breath tickled my nose with the scent of beer, but that wasn’t what had me nauseous.
When his body bumped into mine, it was like a thunderbolt hit me, and a memory from the hotel flashed before my eyes. I knew him. It wasn’t the fact that he resembled Gabriel at all.
The day I’d left Gabriel’s personal suite and went down to my own room after the police came, I’d bumped into someone in my hallway. It ha dbeen a brief moment, but I’d caught enough of his face to know that it was Harbor. He’d been in Las Vegas. No wonder his mother hadn’t known where he was.
Without another word, I pushed myself away from him and bolted into the house. His laughter rolled across the expanse behind me and sent chills up my spine. We had another suspect, but I wasn’t sure Gabriel would believe me.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Gabriel
My call with Mason had been interrupted when the guard shack called to warn me about Harbor. They’d let the kid in, and I assumed he’d go straight to his mother. I had no choice but to call Mason back and finish our business, but I’d been chomping at the bit to go find Luna and take a swim with her.
I’d seen the bikini in her suitcase back at the honeymoon suite. She’d left the thing open, its contents spilled in a heap, and the bright-blue and white had been obvious against all her other muted tones.
It was easy to let my mind wander as Mason rambled on, but when he mentioned the LA case and how the detective had gotten Tammy’s supervisor to admit why she was let go, it grabbed my attention. “What did she say?”
“She admitted that part of the problem they had with her was the fact that she was spreading lies about dating the owner, but that wasn’t the only issue. She’d also been coming in late and had even been caught going through another employee’s work locker.”
“Wow, why would she keep saying she dated me? Did she try to get special treatment? The supervisors would have all known better, and if they hadn’t, they would have asked, especially if they were going to fire her.” The girl sounded like a real piece of work, and I couldn’t imagine anyone thinking I’d date someone like that.
“They didn’t want to bother you with it because they knew it was a lie. But there was something else.
“She had been seen with another man who worked in a different department, so they are trying to locate him to see if he knows more. The dispatch manager didn’t know who he was, just that they both worked for the company. It’s been a while since she was let go, so it’s going to take some time to find him, if he even works there anymore.”
With the fact that I’d laid off several workers from a few different departments over the past year, that could make it even harder.
Suddenly, Luna rushed into my room with wet hair still dripping from the pool and slammed my door behind her. Horror filled her face.
“I’ve got to go, Mason. Call you later.” I ended the call and dropped my phone to my desk as I rose to my feet.
She met me halfway across the room and fell into my arms. My first thought was that she was hurt or that something had happened to her friend or father. “Tell me what’s wrong!”
Her hands shook as she took my hands, and by the chatter of her teeth, she had to be freezing. I led her to the loveseat across the room and grabbed the throw blanket off the back of it to wrap her in. “Luna, tell me!”
“Harbor. He...” I couldn’t tell if the fear was from something that happened or the idea of telling me about it. I nodded to urge her on. “He was in Vegas.” She kept her eyes hard on mine, and as the words sank in, I shook my head.
“Why would you think he was in Vegas? Did you overhear something?” She could have overheard Sandra talking to him, or perhaps he’d told Judy. He’d always liked the woman, and they chatted like she was his mother more than Sandra when he was around.
“I saw him. He came to the pool. He was acting strange and when I went to leave, he blocked
me. I bumped into him, and that triggered a memory from the day I left your hotel suite to go down to my room. I bumped into a guy, and it was him. I’m sure of it.”
She was speaking so fast, I didn’t know what to say or where to start. “Slow down. Tell me what happened at the pool. What did he say to you?” The anger boiled inside of me, wondering if he’d gotten inappropriate. From the way she was shaking and hesitating to tell me, I already knew.
“No, you’re not getting it. He was in Vegas. He had to have known Cindy and Stacey.” The accusation brought my mind to a grinding halt.
“Wait, you don’t think… That’s insane, Luna.” I turned and walked away, unsure what to make of it. Harbor couldn’t have been in Vegas. Not in the same hotel, not knowing he could be seen there. He’d known where I was going.
“You don’t believe me? I’m telling you I’m certain. It was him.” She wanted me to believe her so badly, I could tell from the way the tears welled in her eyes. “I know it’s hard to take in, but he could be another suspect. You have to tell the police!”
“I’ll confront him myself. There has to be an explanation. He’s been gone for a while.”
She shook her head and leaned forward, burying her face in her hands. “He mentioned the murders. He mocked our marriage and compared me to your exes.”
“Harbor is a lot of things, Luna, but I can’t imagine him murdering anyone. It’s a mistake. He was only trying to get to you, and it worked. You need to calm down.” I walked to the bar and poured her a drink.
She glared up at me and took it, but she didn’t drink it. “I understand he’s family, Gabriel, but there was something off about him.”
I threw my arms up in the air. “You don’t even know him; how can you say that?” I realized I wanted her to convince me. I hoped she’d say something so I could stop defending him, but instead she downed the drink and slammed the glass down on the table beside her.
Then she got to her feet, and I realized that she was still cold and shaking and wet beneath the throw. “I’m sorry, Luna. Let’s get you upstairs. You need to change.”
She stormed out ahead of me, and I hurried behind her to stay close on her heels. I wasn’t sure what would happen if Harbor approached her again, but as it turned out, my nephew was nowhere in sight. I got her upstairs and to my master suite and locked the door behind us as she hurried into the bathroom and started the shower. By the time I joined her in the room, she was already stepping into the spray naked, her swimsuit in a pile on the floor with her robe.
I left her there to calm down and decided to turn the bed down for her. She needed to relax, and I needed her to tell me everything. The only way to sort this out would be to talk about it calmly, putting all the pieces together. If she was right and Harbor had been in Vegas, it could throw the spotlight off of me, but what would it do to him? Would it be worth it if she were wrong?
Minutes later, she walked from the bathroom and crawled into bed. Her hair was still wet, but bound up high on her head in a towel. She had my white robe on and the thing had never looked better. “He suggested I sleep with him.”
“Now that, I can believe.” She was gorgeous, piled up in my bed with the robe hanging loose over her breast, offering me a peek of her cleavage, and I wondered how much he’d seen of her in the bikini. “I’ll talk to him about that. He shouldn’t disrespect you that way.”
“You don’t believe me.” She shook her head. “And no, please don’t say anything to him. It will only make things worse. You need to trust me and look at the footage from the time I left the hotel. You’ll see he was there.”
“I believe you. As much as I don’t want to.” I sat beside her and stroked her hand.
“This is my nephew, Luna. My flesh and blood and the closest thing I’ve ever had to a son – and you’re telling me that he was in Vegas when all of this took place. I don’t want to believe you because it puts me in the horrible position of thinking he could be the killer, even though I know he couldn’t be.”
“How do you know that? I get that you know him, but as someone who doesn’t have the heart for being partial toward him, he was disgusting and perverse and the precise type who could do something like this.”
“I’m afraid to ask what he said to you.”
She pulled the covers up over her hips and after she got situated, took my hand. “I’m not comfortable explaining. I’m not comfortable with any of this, honestly.” I rubbed her shoulder and she scooted closer to lay her head in my lap as I repositioned.
“He knew them both. He’d also asked me if he could go along to Vegas, but I’d refused him. I wanted a minute away from him and his mother, and I knew he’d only get into trouble while I worked.” I stroked her back as she relaxed against me. “I didn’t expect the speech to go as well as it had and I never intended I’d have anything to celebrate.”
“Or that you’d get married. I guess if you’d let him come along, maybe he could have kept you out of trouble. Maybe he did it to get your attention. Maybe he did it to get back at you. It’s not like I know him, so you tell me, do any of those motives make sense? Would there be anything to gain?”
She spoke quietly, as if she were being lulled into a trance, all of the excitement from earlier slowly fading. Even her hands were limp, clutching the covers as she breathed steady and calm.
“If anything happened to me and I were put away for murder, those two wouldn’t make it. I’d have to make provisions for them, such as a trust, but it wouldn’t give them any greater access to my fortune. I’d still be in control of it.
“As for my position in the business, it is secure no matter where I reside, and there are far too many in line to keep it running. He wouldn’t be in control of anything. He’d be worse off, and his mother would probably end up dead or in the gutter somewhere.”
“But you will still check into it?” She rolled back and stared up at me. “Promise me.”
“The problem is, Luna, I have no choice.
“As much as I’d like to forget about all of this, I’m still a suspect, and I know what Mason would suggest. He’d want me to tell the police about Harbor to take the last bit of heat that’s on me down to a minimum. Besides, withholding could be even worse if they figure it out on their own.”
“Yes, and if he did do it, they might think you’re an accessory or that you had him do it.” She stared back across the room as I let that sink in.
I’d have to call Mason and let him know, but before I went to anyone with the information, I was going to make damned sure Luna wasn’t mistaken.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Luna
I opened my eyes, expecting to see myself surrounded by water. The motion beneath me had me feeling I was floating on a raft, but when I opened my eyes, it was Gabriel climbing back into bed. In his hands, he held his laptop, and I blinked to adjust my eyes as he lit the screen in the dim room.
I yawned and cleared my throat. “What are you doing?”
Gabriel patted my arm and rubbed soft circles there as if to soothe me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. I’ve barely caught a wink all night with this weighing on me. I’m going to see if I have that file where you left and see if I can find Harbor there. I’ve got to know what he was up to.”
“I’m sorry this has happened. I feel awful.” I rolled to my back and stared up at the ceiling. “Maybe I should tell Kim not to come. In light of everything, it might be best. She’ll understand, and she can come another time.”
Gabriel’s fingers glided over the keyboard to log in and brought up a set of files. “I think you’re long overdue for some girl time. You keep your plans and let me deal with this.” He narrowed his eyes at the screen and continued, “I’d appreciate you both steering clear of Harbor if you can help it, and if he pulls another stunt like that, you come to me immediately.”
Having Kim around would make me feel better, but I’d make sure the two of us avoided Harbor and his mother like the plague. “Are you
sure?” I wanted to give him one last opportunity to tell me I should wait, but instead, he nodded.
“I’m positive. Your friend is always welcome. I’d like you to take her on a tour of the winery and make sure she leaves with some of our best.”
“She’ll love that. She’s an impossible wino.”
“Then I’m sure I’ll love her.” He stared at the screen and spoke in a monotone voice as he focused hard on the images. “What time did you leave?”
I sat up beside him and laid my head on his shoulder to see. “That morning after my shower. I’d say around eleven.”
“Then it should be here.” He flipped through some of the camera angles.
“There, that’s the hallway. It would have showed up on that camera. I remember that table with the plant. He steadied himself against it.”
Gabriel forwarded through the first hour of video and suddenly, there it was. “There I am.” I watched as Harbor came into the angle and then just as I had said, he bumped into me. For the most part, his back had been to the camera, but as he recovered from the contact – which seemed deliberate, seeing it play out – he’d turned to look behind him. I didn’t say anything as Gabriel rewound it and stilled the frame.
“Son of a bitch.” He played it a few times and stilled it again. “Why does it seem deliberate? Why would he do that? He must know you, too.”
That made my skin crawl. “I’d never met him before.”
“I know, which is why this worries me.” He scratched his head. “Let’s assume he didn’t know who you were…maybe this is his way of getting a woman’s attention. It’s juvenile, but he’s young. If you had stopped to respond, it would have been the perfect way to open a conversation.”
“But he didn’t stop, either.” I shrugged it off, though I wanted to scream. Gabriel could make excuses for the kid all day if he wanted, but this wasn’t his pick-up game. The guy clearly knew who I was.