Navy Rescue

by Geri Krotow

  “I’m not buying it.” Gwen’s mind spun with possibilities.

  “Did you get a lawyer yet?” Cole stuck to the practicalities.

  “I found one yesterday.” Drew wiped his face, shoulders back against the dining-room chair. Gwen longed to smooth his brow.

  “He had his choice of several top attorneys. It’s obvious that he’s innocent.” She glanced sharply at Drew. Three lawyers had offered to represent him after she’d contacted them, using the list her mother had given her, and Drew had picked one of them.

  “I’d suggest you figure out how or even if you’re going to respond to the press. I’d recommend not doing it, but your attorney may have a different strategy.”

  Cole stood up and Drew followed suit, stretching out his hand.

  “Thanks, Cole,” he said. “I know this isn’t easy for you, either. I don’t want to put you in a bad place.”

  “I am in a bad place, Drew, but it’s through no fault of yours—unless I’ve totally misread you these past years and you’re withholding the truth from me.”

  “I’m not.”

  “I’ll walk you out, Cole,” Gwen offered.

  She let Cole out the front door and came back inside to find Drew still at the table.

  “It’ll work out, Drew. I’m sure of that.” But Gwen’s faith in him obviously wasn’t something he wanted to receive at the moment.

  She knew him; he believed it couldn’t change a damn thing.

  * * *

  DREW ALLOWED GWEN to make dinner and engaged in small talk with her. He refused to talk about the case.

  As soon as she went upstairs for her shower, he made a phone call. He left her a note. “Had to go out for a bit. Don’t wait up.”

  * * *

  “I TAKE IT this isn’t a friendly coffee meet-up,” Cole said, staring at him across the diner’s table.

  “At night, when I know you haven’t had a moment’s rest since Dottie Forsyth died? No, Cole, it’s not social.”

  Drew wrapped his hands around his mug. He needed the warmth. It was a cold, dreary night on Whidbey; Gwen was in his house but still out of reach. “I’ve been thinking, Cole. I’m not trying to do your job for you, but this is my life, my professional reputation on the line. You can’t expect me to sit still while there’s a possibility that a murderer’s walking around free.”

  “Go on.”

  “There are three possible suspects from my clinic—me, Serena and Terri. Terri only works part-time and wasn’t in the office when Dottie died, so she’s out. I was in my private office, on the phone with Gwen—you have the phone-company records to back that up, I assume.”

  “You know I can’t confirm or deny anything. You have to get the lawyer to do that.”

  “I know.” Drew waved in the air between them. “That’s not the issue. Let’s assume you have the records and I have an alibi. The security cameras in the front reception area would show me leaving my office but they don’t, either.”

  “Right.” Cole didn’t try to deny this, to Drew’s relief.

  “We’re leaving out someone I’ve always thought might be a little off-kilter. Opal Doyle. The gal who runs the coffee stand outside the NAS main gate. She worked for me for a while until she saved up enough capital to start her business, and earned her MBA.” Drew shrugged. “I sound desperate—downright insane—don’t I?”

  “Maybe. But the murder of a PT client while she’s using an underwater treadmill is pretty insane, too.”

  He and Cole Ramsey were poker buddies and they’d had a therapist-client relationship, but more than that they were close friends. As such, they rarely indulged in small talk; they didn’t need to.

  “You think I might be on to something?” Drew asked.

  “What’s your relationship with Opal?” Ramsey’s gaze was alert, focused.

  “I don’t have a relationship with her, not in that sense. Never have. She worked for me for about six months. She was a decent employee. I could trust her to multi-task and the patients seemed to love her.”

  “Seemed?”

  “She made them laugh and she was especially good with the old guys. You know how it is—the male seniors enjoy flirting with a younger gal.”

  Ramsey nodded. “Where had her last job been?”

  “Somewhere in Bellingham, or was it Mount Vernon?” He referred to two small towns on the mainland, both about an hour from Oak Harbor and Whidbey. “Honestly, I don’t remember off the top of my head. I have her original application on file. I scan everything and save it.”

  “I’d like to see that if you don’t mind. Do you remember what she did before, in terms of employment?”

  “She’d worked in nursing homes as an aide. She doesn’t have any formal education that I’m aware of, which I told her was something she might want to consider getting. I trained her on my equipment and had her do some admin work for me. Community college or some other degree program. I thought she’d make a good medical aide. She wasn’t drawn to medical services, though. She wanted a business degree.”

  “What made her interested in the coffee business?”

  “Opportunity. She told me and the staff that she’d decided to move to the island to change up her routine. Apparently, she’d lived back East most of her life and wanted a change.”

  “You never made a pass at her?”

  “Are you kidding me? No way! I don’t mess with my employees. Besides, she always gave me the feeling that she’d be very needy. I was careful not to encourage her, but that didn’t stop her from trying to turn us into a couple.”

  “Oh?” Cole leaned forward.

  “I never talked to you or the poker guys about it because it seemed...silly. When she bought the house next to mine, I thought it was odd but chalked it up to coincidence. But since Gwen’s been back, she’s unexpectedly shown up at our place more than once. She has a bad habit of letting herself in uninvited.”

  He filled Cole in on his own bad habit of leaving doors unlocked. He also explained how Opal had recently dropped in at the clinic unannounced.

  “I don’t want to think of Opal or anyone I know as a murderer—and I don’t understand why she’d do something like that, what her motivation might be...but I can’t let this go.”

  “All right. I’d suggest you see that Gwen isn’t alone in the house, and that you keep your damn doors locked. If I come up with any hard evidence that could possibly link Opal to the crime, if it was a crime, I may be asking for your help in getting Opal to confess. But it’s not a sure thing, Drew. And you’re not a cop.”

  “Thanks, Cole. I told you, I’m not trying to do your job. But you’re putting the pieces of a puzzle together and I have to make sure you know everything I know.”

  Cole nodded. “I appreciate it. What can you tell me about Serena?”

  “She’s the best worker I’ve ever had. Too smart for her job, actually. She’s going back to school for general studies, but we haven’t really discussed what she’s interested in. Her focus has been on her kid, a boy, since she lost her husband in Afghanistan almost three years ago. I wouldn’t normally talk about this, but she was at Beyond the Stars with her son last summer when I went over to San Juan Island for a day.”

  Cole nodded. Drew had told him about his volunteer time there.

  “She’s the real deal. Devoted to her son. Still very much the grieving widow. She’ll heal, I hope, but it’s going to take her longer than a lot of other people.”

  “Why do you say that?” Cole’s interest was piqued.

  “She keeps a photo on her desk of her husband holding their son as a newborn. There’s no sign that she’s dating or even that she has a social life.”

  “Is she friends with any of the local navy spouses?”

  Drew shook his head. “No. Her husband
was army. She came out here two years ago, after he died. He was stationed at Fort Hood.”

  Cole sipped his decaf. “So, what about it, Drew? Are you and Gwen going to patch things up?”

  “You don’t mess around, do you? And what does this have to do with Opal or Serena? Are you done asking me questions about them?”

  “For now. You say nothing happened between you and either of those ladies. I believe you.”

  “Nothing happened, on my part. But like I said, Opal’s made it clear, still makes it clear, in fact, that her door is open if I’m ever interested.”

  “Are you?”

  “Hell, no! I told you, Opal’s not my type. She’s a sweet girl, but I always get the feeling she’s too needy underneath it all.”

  “Yeah, you mentioned that. Needy in what way?”

  “Nothing I can put my finger on. I see it when she flirts with the other navy guys, though—that air of desperation you sometimes see in old-time barflies.”

  “You didn’t answer my question about Gwen.”

  Drew shook his head. “Nothing to say there. We’ve been friends since we divorced, and through some misguided loyalty she’s staying with me until we’re sure I’m not going to jail. After that, we’ll go our separate ways.”

  He realized he’d be forced off island, probably out of Washington State, to seek employment as a physical therapist. If—when—he was cleared of any wrongdoing in Dottie’s death...

  “Relationships never come easy.” Ramsey’s tone grew whimsical and Drew assumed the official questions were over.

  “What about you, Cole? Anyone flirting with you lately?”

  Ramsey’s eyes narrowed but not before Drew saw the glimmer of a smile.

  “Hey, you hiding someone from us, Ramsey?”

  “I’ll let you know when I have something to tell you.”

  Drew laughed. “That bob and weave might work in the ring but it doesn’t fool me, Detective.”

  “Speaking of which, I haven’t had time to go for a run, much less a round.” Ramsey stayed in shape by boxing as a hobby.

  “It’s tough, isn’t it? When I was younger I never imagined I wouldn’t be exercising each and every day.”

  “We all had plans like that.”

  They continued their conversation for another fifteen minutes or so.

  “You still need me to stick around the area?” Drew hated to ask, but he hated being a murder suspect even more.

  “Just let me know if you’re going on a big trip out of state, or up to Vancouver. Are you?”

  “No.”

  All his concerns were local.

  * * *

  DOTTIE FORSYTHE WASN’T supposed to die, damn it. All the controls on the aquatracker, the open door to the room—all of it had been perfectly set up so the old woman only had a bad day.

  It was supposed to be a tactic, something to wake Drew up to what mattered. Not a means for his ex-wife to ensnare him in her trap again. Gwen seemed to forget that she was his ex-wife. How to get Gwen and that baby from the Philippines out of the way? Out of the picture that was going to have two subjects, neither of which was Gwen or her stupid baby.

  Dottie wasn’t supposed to die, no, but Gwen—Gwen was different. Gwen needed to be gotten rid of.

  Only then could Drew get the love he deserved.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  DAYLIGHT SLIPPED UNDER the blackout curtains Drew had in his room. The guest room. He’d given her the master suite when she came back and he hadn’t returned to it. She saw his shape, still under the covers, only the side of his head showing.

  Gwen was careful to open the door slowly so it wouldn’t squeak and wake Drew. He needed to rest, and she’d leave him for another twenty minutes. Then he had to get up and get going. She had plans for them today.

  She’d only meant to peek in at him. He’d left his door cracked so it wasn’t as if she risked barging in on him. The quiet, punctuated by the sound of his breathing, made her stop and take stock of her surroundings.

  This wasn’t another PTSD precursor. No tremors of fear or anxiety-induced sweats.

  The awareness she felt came from something else.

  Drew’s scent, his breath, his presence.

  She missed him.

  A movement in the bed caught her attention and she stood still, expecting him to roll over and catch her spying on him.

  But he’d only stretched in his sleep, then turned onto his back. From this angle she could see his profile in the grainy light, and she saw his ear—his ear.

  Drew’s ears were perfect. Small and flat against his head, unlike her larger, more pronounced ears. They’d joked years ago that they both hoped their kids got his ears. Drew had insisted that he didn’t care whose ears they got, as long as he got to be the father of her babies. That was enough for him, he’d said.

  She blinked.

  And now she’d come back from the dead, blown apart their platonic friendship and announced that she was the mother of a baby she wasn’t even sure she’d be able to adopt.

  When they were married, their projected time to start a family had always been hazy, but involved both of them achieving major career milestones first. Mostly on the education front. She got her master’s degree during a quick ten-month tour in Pennsylvania at the Army War College, on exchange from the navy. He’d earned his Ph.D. in physical therapy.

  As a young newlywed she’d believed there’d always be time to have a baby. The truth was that she’d allowed her drive for success and her need for perfection in everything to cloud her common sense.

  She was thirty-seven. Even if they were still a couple, still wanted to have a baby, her ability to get pregnant wasn’t guaranteed. After the stress of six months of survival living, she’d bet her chances of conceiving were down to nil. Her cycles had stopped out in the jungle, no doubt due to her weight loss and the shock and fear. The same thing had happened when she was a midshipman at the Academy; her periods had stopped for the better part of her plebe year. Low body fat and a high-stress environment could cause that.

  “Gwen?” His gravelly voice interrupted her thoughts.

  “I’m sorry, Drew. I was checking to see if you were up yet.”

  “I am now. Is everything okay?” He leaned toward his nightstand and picked up his cell phone. “Cripes, it’s past seven? I slept like the dead.”

  “You needed it.”

  She didn’t allow herself time to reconsider, just took a breath and plunged right in. “You have twenty minutes to get showered and dressed, and then we’re leaving the house for the day. You don’t need to bring anything. Oh, and dress casually.”

  Drew groaned. “I’m not in the mood for this kind of thing, Gwen.”

  “Relax. It’s not like I’m trying to take you on a date or anything. You need a break, Drew. It’s in my best interests to keep you healthy if you’re going to help me adopt Pax. Staying shut in all weekend like you’ve been doing isn’t good enough.”

  “I mean what I said. I’m not up to it.”

  “I wasn’t up to going back into the squadron, either. But you gave me a kick in the butt when I needed it and now I’m doing the same thing. Get out of bed, buddy.”

  She left his room and jogged down the hall to hers. She couldn’t risk giving him the opportunity to turn her down.

  * * *

  AN HOUR LATER she’d driven her car onto the ferry’s ramp. They got out and stood at the railing watching the island slowly recede.

  “I haven’t been to Seattle in a long, long time.” Drew stood next to her, his elbows on the top rail, hands folded loosely in front of him. The wind blew back his dark hair and she noticed the pronounced streaks of silver glistening.

  He’d aged. Between their divorce, her almost-death and return a
nd now Dottie Forsyth’s death, he’d become a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

  “Me, neither. We stopped there when I flew back from Manila, but that was only to use the airport. They took me right to Madigan for the medical routine, and then came back to Oak Harbor.” She’d been too afraid to leave her hospital room at that point, even if she’d had the time to travel the forty-five minutes from Tacoma to Seattle.

  “Are you sure you’ll be okay going so far from home?” He kept his gaze on the water, obviously taking care to be casual with her.

  She hated it but understood.

  “I’m fine, Drew. I’ve been going to work every day. I haven’t had a nightmare in ages. I’m doing well.” She lied about the nightmares. The one in which she couldn’t get to Pax, couldn’t save him from an undefined threat, recurred a few times a week.

  But today wasn’t about her or Pax. It was about Drew and being the friend to him that he’d been to her when she’d first come back.

  “Just checking, Gwen.”

  “I appreciate it. Now tell me, what’s your favorite thing to do?”

  At his hesitation, she laughed.

  “I mean in Seattle, of course.”

  “I like to have a good meal, preferably off the beaten track.”

  “What else?”

  “Walking through the houseboat neighborhoods?”

  “Close, but not quite.”

  “Let’s see—I enjoy the Science Center.”

  She smiled. “Ding ding ding! Give the man a prize. You’re close enough to be right, I suppose. What’s near the Science Center that you adore?”

  “The IMAX theater?”

  “Yes! And today you get to choose whichever movie you want.”

  “What’s showing?”

  “A wilderness adventure, a short film about outer space and another one, something about the human body.” She waited for comprehension to reflect on his features. It took him a few seconds, but he finally brightened.

  “A Body Odyssey?”

  “Yes, sir, just for you. A full-length movie that traces a path throughout the entire human body, including its musculoskeletal system!”