“Not this time.”
She hesitated only a second before asking, “What about in Chicago?”
“What are you getting at, Hailey?”
“Something happened that I didn’t tell you about.”
Danny’s brow furrowed. “When?”
“An hour or so after Bryce gave your loan shark the money, I went out for a run along the Chicago River. There was a car following me. Then a man wearing a ski mask got out and grabbed me. He was too strong for me to fight off. He threw me into the water.”
“What?”
“I don’t know if he intended to kill me, but if it wasn’t for Bryce, I probably wouldn’t be here today. I don’t know what happened, Danny, but I couldn’t fight the current. Bryce jumped in and towed me to shore.”
“Another reason to thank him,” Danny said, taking Hailey in his arms for a big hug. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“I figured you had enough worries.”
“You’re my main worry, sis. You always have been.”
This was the Danny of the past, the one who’d always been there for her, who’d done what he had to so that she would be safe and happy. Hailey blinked away tears and rested her head on her brother’s shoulder for a minute.
“Any reason you think Iceman was responsible?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” Hailey pulled away. “I don’t know anyone in Chicago. It could have been him. Or someone else who has a grudge against you?”
“No one. I swear! Iceman is the only one I owed, and it doesn’t make sense that he came after you because you arranged for him to collect. Are you sure someone doesn’t have a grudge against you?”
“Not that I know of.”
“No one you ticked off? A client, maybe?”
Hailey tried to think of anyone she’d put off. “Mrs. Polder? I can’t seem to find a house that she likes.”
“You think she could have thrown you in the river or hired someone to do it because you couldn’t find her a suitable house?” he asked, irony rich in his tone. “What about your other clients?”
“What other clients? I’ve been in an increasing dry spell, Danny.” And then it hit her. “Unless…”
“Who?”
“James Croft.” The man had struck her wrong from the first. “I told you he needed Croft’s financial backing for that new development—the reason we made our deal. Bryce brought Croft to McKenna Ridge and Croft wants to buy on the lake. Specifically he wants me to get him Widow’s Peak, and he’s not happy that I can’t instantly give him what he wants. Come to think of it, Croft was in Chicago when I got dumped in the river.”
“So you think he tried to drown you to convince you to get him the property?”
“Okay, maybe not.”
“You sound like you have a problem with him.”
“I think he only wants to buy Widow’s Peak to tear it down and build a new development—a condo complex or several multimillion dollar homes. If so, there goes one of the original treasures on the lake.”
“Wait a minute,” Danny said. “Croft…Croft…” He paced the room. “I know that name.”
“You might have read something about him in a Chicago newspaper.”
“No, I mean from here.”
“Last weekend was the first time he was in the Lake Geneva area.”
“Are you certain of that? I swear I know that name from back in the day.”
Why that possibility should bother Hailey she couldn’t fathom. But when she got to her office, the first thing she did after returning a couple of phone messages and checking her email was to call her old boss. Mattie Sorenson had not only owned and run her own real estate agency for nearly forty years, but she’d also been on the board of directors of the Lake Geneva chamber of commerce. Mattie had closed shop and had retired the year before because she’d declared she was too old to fight the economy, but she always liked to hear what Hailey was up to.
“Hailey, honey, how are you doing? I heard you married that gorgeous Bryce McKenna. Congratulations!”
“Thanks, Mattie.”
“You’ll have to tell me all about it over lunch. That’s why you called, right?”
“I would love to have lunch as soon as my life settles down. Maybe in a week or two?”
“You just let me know when. So what’s up?”
“I have a new client, a buyer. I want to get the low-down on him if there is one.” Quickly she added, “You know, just in case it helps me figure out how to sell him. I thought he was new to Lake Geneva, but Danny seems to think he knows the name.”
“Which is?”
“James Croft.”
“Croft? Yes, of course. He was at Bryce’s party. And I remember the Crofts from years ago. They rented a house on the lake for a couple of summers. I know because I handled the rental.”
“How long ago was this?”
“Mmm, the last time had to be in the last century,” Mattie said with a laugh. “I know it was more than a dozen years ago. There was some kind of trouble with one of the sons, and the family left in the middle of their rental and never returned.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Sorry, honey, that escapes me. My memory isn’t as good as it once was.”
Thinking that was all she was going to get from Mattie, Hailey shifted the conversation to one more personal, then set a date for lunch before she hung up.
But she couldn’t let the Croft connection go…
WHY had Violet Scott kept those articles about his mother’s disappearance? Bryce wondered on the drive home. Before leaving Widow’s Peak, he’d had a few minutes alone to take another look at that scrapbook. Most of the articles had been about happenings in the area—not on individuals—so why had she been so focused on his mother?
Had Violet known what had happened to his mother that rainy night?
Turning off the main road and heading toward the lake, Bryce tried to shake off the guilt he always felt on thinking about it, but this time, he simply couldn’t. If he had been with his mother that last night, she wouldn’t have disappeared.
He’d ignored the soul-searing warning, the absolute knowledge that something was wrong, and he’d never been able to forgive himself.
Since then, Sheelin O’Keefe’s prophecy had hung over his head, waiting for him to make another mistake. Sometimes he could feel it—whenever he was with a woman who seemed just a little too right for him. Like Hailey. Especially Hailey. The weight of their having sex the night before had ignited some internal mechanism, a warning that he was close to triggering the curse.
He felt more than a little something for Hailey and he feared for her and he was going to have to let her go.
Now.
Before it was too late.
Before he fell in love with her.
Pulling into his drive, he parked and headed for the door off the kitchen, wishing Hailey were inside waiting for him. More and more, his thoughts centered on her. On what-ifs. What-ifs weren’t possible. He wasn’t going to put her in danger. He wasn’t going to be responsible for something terrible happening again to someone he cared for.
No sooner did he step into the house than his phone rang.
Caller I.D. told him it was Croft.
“I’m going hunting up in your area and thought you could meet me there. And bring your lovely wife.”
“Hailey’s working.” Truthfully, Bryce didn’t think of killing an animal as sport. He never had, not even in the days when he’d gone along with his friends because it was expected of him. Not that he’d ever killed any creature himself. “And I haven’t hunted in years.”
“Well, it’s time you got back to it.” Croft paused and when Bryce didn’t agree, said, “I insist.”
Bryce clenched his jaw. How had he gotten himself into this situation? The man was determined to run his life.
Trying to get out of it without severing the connection, he said, “The problem is that I no longer have a license.”
>
“Not a problem at all. I’m headed for a private preserve on the state line. I assume you know Grainger Hunt Club.”
“I know where it is.” Twenty minutes or so south of the lake.
“Then I expect to see you there in an hour. You’ll be my guest. And don’t worry about not having your own equipment. I have several bows with me, so you can borrow one. Tell your lovely wife to join us when she’s free.”
He wanted Hailey to come? No doubt he meant to question her about Widow’s Peak again. Not seeing how he could get out of this without offending Croft and ruining any chance of saving McKenna Development, Bryce caved.
“I’ll see you there.”
Croft’s tone held a hint of glee when he said, “I thought you would.”
HAILEY’S schedule for the afternoon was clear, so she thought to walk over to the police department. The day was gray, the air cooler than she liked. Dark clouds formed in the sky, but rain didn’t look imminent, so she kept going on foot. She would see what information she could wheedle from the chief of police. Arnold Schmidt had worked for the department since he was a rookie. If anyone could tell her about Croft, it would be Schmidt.
Halfway there, she brought her plan to an abrupt halt when she spotted Iceman leaving a bar and heading in the opposite direction. Hailey power-walked after him, and just as the loan shark was about to cross the street, she caught up to him and grabbed his arm, spinning him around to face her.
“I have something to say to you.”
The loan shark grinned at her. “Well, if it ain’t Danny’s very generous little sister.”
“Stay away from my brother.”
The grin faded. “I don’t take no orders from no woman.”
“Danny is trying to clean up his act, so you leave him alone!”
“Chill, baby.”
But despite the attention she was getting from passersby on the street, Hailey wasn’t done. “Don’t come up here again to invite Danny to another of your games. You won’t get any more money from my husband or me, so sucking my brother back into some big game is not worth your while.”
Iceman laughed. “You don’t want nothing to happen to your brother, so I know you would find the money to rescue him again.”
Furious, Hailey asked, “Remember the detective who came to see you in Chicago? Reilly McKenna is my brother-in-law and he would love to make your life miserable. Which he will if you let Danny into one of your games. And stay out of Lake Geneva. This is my town. These are my people. Don’t come after Danny again or I’ll make your life miserable here.”
“Who says I came to Lake Geneva for a loser like your brother?” Iceman said, taking a threatening step closer.
Hailey’s pulse jumped, but she stood her ground.
“I know people here, too,” Iceman said. “Chicagoans who have summer homes on the lake. I’ve been collecting from their deep pockets for more than a dozen years and I’m not about to stay away because you say so.” He backed off. “Want to take my photo now? Got a cell phone that works?”
Why was he taunting her about her cell?
When she didn’t answer, he crossed against the light, holding out his hand for vehicles to stop and let him pass. A frustrated Hailey stared after him, wondering about those contacts of his around the lake.
And he’d known about the cell phone… So had it been him? Had Iceman thrown her in the river? To kill her…or her cell phone with those photos she’d taken of him?
Another question to ask Chief Schmidt—she wondered if he knew about illegal gambling in the area. She wondered if he knew about a loan shark coming up here, into his town. She marched over to the building housing the police department and asked to see him. Luckily, Schmidt had just returned from a late lunch and was available. He invited her into his office.
Sitting in his beat-up leather chair, his white mustache twitching above a smile, he asked, “Hailey, what can I do for you?”
“I’m trying to get some background on a potential client,” she told him. “I didn’t think he’d ever been to Lake Geneva before, but it seems his family used to rent a house on the lake.”
Schmidt rocked back in his chair and gave her a piercing look. His faded blue eyes seemed to bore into her. “What exactly is it that you want to know?”
“The reason they stopped coming more than a decade ago.” She sat in the chair on the other side of his desk. “The name is Croft. Apparently one of the sons got into some kind of trouble. I like to know who I’m dealing with.”
“James Croft,” Schmidt mused. “I remember him. He was only seventeen at the time. There’d been a series of break-ins around the lake all that summer. Anyway, Frank Bell caught the Croft kid and Mike Anderson inside his house when he came back into town in the middle of the night. He pulled a gun on them and brought them in.”
So not only was James Croft a thief, but he also knew Mike Anderson and apparently very well. Not that he’d said so. And Mike had been a thief as well. Then something else struck her.
“The Bell mansion…that’s the place next to Widow’s Peak, right?”
“That it is.”
She was getting a really weird feeling about the connection. “So what happened?”
“They hadn’t actually stolen anything before getting caught, and the damage was minimal, so Frank Bell wouldn’t press charges. They got a sound lecture and a pass, and the parents had to pay for the broken window. A few days later, Croft’s parents got the family out of town and never came back. We couldn’t prove anything about the other break-ins, but they stopped after the family left.”
“So James Croft is a thief.”
“He was a kid way back then. He was totally freaked out. Probably getting caught like that taught him a lesson.”
But Hailey wondered if Croft had changed or if he’d stepped up his life of crime. She also wondered even more about his interest in Widow’s Peak, considering one of the owners was his former partner in crime. Certain that Bryce wouldn’t want to get involved with dirty money, she had to tell him about this.
“Come to think of it,” Chief Schmidt said, “all that happened more than a dozen years ago. Fifteen to be exact.”
“Wow, you have some memory.”
“I remember because of what else happened that night.”
Hailey’s stomach tightened. “What else happened?”
“It was the same night Alice McKenna disappeared.”
Chapter Twelve
No sooner did she leave the chief’s office than Hailey pulled out her cell phone to call Bryce. She saw there was a voice mail from him. Annoyed that the cell hadn’t rung, she retrieved the message.
“Hailey, Croft called and insisted I hunt with him today. He wants you to join us as well. If you can get away, meet us at the Grainger Hunt Club. I’m already on my way.”
They went hunting? Shuddering, she checked the time. Bryce had called only twenty minutes ago, while she was talking to Chief Schmidt. She returned the call but it went to voice mail.
“Bryce, I need to talk to you, but I’ll be on my way to the Grainger Hunt Club as soon as I can get home and change out of my work clothes. Call me.”
Turning to go, Hailey almost ran into Ray Anderson.
“What’s going on?” Ray asked.
From the look on his face and his proximity to Schmidt’s office, Hailey wondered if Ray hadn’t overheard their conversation about the thefts and the reference to his brother.
She forced a smile. “Just keeping good relations with local law enforcement. What are you doing here?”
“Delivering a late lunch to some of the men.”
Indeed the officers behind the front desk were just opening foam containers filled with burgers and fries.
“Hailey, about your brother…”
Uh-oh, what had Danny done now? Hailey tensed. “What about him?”
“He’s interviewing with me on Friday.”
“So he told me.”
“The interview’s just
a formality. He’s got the job. Just thought you’d like to know.”
“Thanks, Ray.” She almost hugged the man.
“I figured it was the least I could do. You know, with you working so hard for us before we even sign the contract on Widow’s Peak. I know Mike’s been a pain in the butt about the whole thing.”
“No problem. Hopefully I can have a proposal on the work to be done day after tomorrow.”
“Why don’t we go over to the estate now? You can point out the flaws.”
“Sorry.” She really was. She would like nothing more than to get this settled. Not that Ray had complete say. Backing toward the door, she said, “I have to meet Bryce and I’m late.”
“Go ahead, then. You work on the proposal, and I’ll work on Mike.”
Hailey waved goodbye and left the building. She was home in less than ten minutes—Danny was gone—and out the door in another five. As she took a shortcut to the main road, she saw her brother’s car parked in a drive next to a house in a secluded area.
What was Danny doing there?
Had Iceman set up a game that her brother hadn’t been able to resist?
Realizing she’d forgotten to ask Chief Schmidt what he knew about the Chicago loan shark or about local illegal gambling, she decided she didn’t have time to worry about him or Danny at the moment. That problem would have to wait.
On the drive south, the things she’d learned about Bryce’s mother and about James Croft and about Mike Anderson whirled around and around in Hailey’s mind until her brain was exhausted. How much of this could she tell Bryce? She remembered Grania telling her that Bryce for some reason continued to feel guilty about their mother’s disappearance.
How could she tell him what she believed to be true about that night without it killing him?
Twenty minutes later, she checked in at the front desk of the Grainger Hunt Club. Several stuffed deer heads mounted around the room watched her from glass eyes, giving her the creeps.
“Ah, so you’re Mr. Croft’s other guest. He was anxious about whether you’d make it,” the manager said.
She glanced at his nameplate, “How long ago did they start, Mr. Avery?”
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