Last Resort: Marriage

by Pamela Stone

  Sitting up straight, she suddenly focused on the officer’s words. “Emergency room? Is Aaron okay?”

  The officer’s voice remained calm. “Your husband is going to be okay. But you might want to come down here.”

  Oh, God. She covered her mouth to keep from screaming into the phone. “How bad is he hurt?”

  “Ma’am, I’m not a doctor. But his injuries are not life threatening. We can fill you in when you get here.”

  “I’m on my way.” Charlotte shoved her feet into her sneakers and grabbed a sweatshirt. Where the hell was her purse? Before Aaron moved in, the bungalow had always been immaculate. Everything in its place. But she’d gotten as lax as he was about leaving things where they landed.

  Spotting her purse on the chair, she grabbed it and dug her keys out, already darting for the car.

  The roads were slick, but luckily it wasn’t far to the hospital. Not only was she not sure if she locked the car, she wasn’t even positive she shut the door as she raced up to the emergency room counter. “Aaron Brody, please. I’m his wife.”

  Could the woman type any slower? “Brody with a Y?”

  “Yes.” Oh, come on. This wasn’t New York or some huge city. There were only two other people in the waiting room.

  A police officer came through the door and nodded toward her. “Mrs. Brody?”

  “Yes. Where’s my husband?”

  “They’re stitching him up right now. It’ll just be a few minutes.”

  Charlotte followed him to a chair. “What happened? Did somebody attack him?”

  The officer’s weathered face revealed nothing. “We haven’t gotten a full statement. We left a team to secure the site and brought Mr. Brody here for treatment. Apparently he surprised two intruders on his boat. There was a scuffle and Mr. Brody sustained a stab wound to his left arm.”

  Charlotte rubbed her hands up and down the chill bumps on her own arms.

  Perry was behind this. After being caught once, she doubted he’d come on board again. But he wasn’t above hiring someone. “Did you catch them?”

  “No,” the officer said.

  She’d brought this on Aaron. If not for her, Perry wouldn’t even know Aaron existed.

  The receptionist approached. “Mr. Brody is ready for visitors, as soon as you’re done here.”

  The woman’s rubber soles squeaked as she led them down the sterile hallway. The officer stood back and let Charlotte approach the bed alone. Aaron sat propped against the pillows, wearing no shirt and a white bandage around his upper arm. Her hungry eyes surveyed every inch of him, searching for any damage. Other than a split lip and a purple bruise spreading across his left cheekbone, he looked wonderful. Her hand trembled as she ran her palm down his cheek. Tears sprang to her eyes before she could stop them.

  Aaron covered her hand with his and brought it to his lips. “I’m okay, Charlie.”

  “I kept waiting for you to come home, but I had no idea.”

  “I was on the way to the grocery store. But after Tuesday night I decided to swing by and make sure the boat was secure.”

  “What happened Tuesday night?” the officer asked, moving a chair up for Charlotte.

  She sat on the edge of the bed and motioned him into the chair.

  “Similar situation. I left the Gecko around midnight and headed home. As I passed the Free Wind, I caught someone snooping around.”

  The officer opened his notebook. “Did you file a report?”

  “I didn’t file a report because I know the SOB,” Aaron said, glancing at Charlie.

  She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. “You don’t think Perry was one of the guys tonight though, right? He’s not the physical type.”

  The officer looked at Charlotte. “Perry who, ma’am? Do you believe he’s the one responsible for this?”

  She stared at Aaron, then finally turned to the officer. “Perry Thurman. He had to be behind it.”

  The policeman looked from Charlotte to Aaron. “So does Perry Thurman have an ax to grind with you?”

  “He’s been causing problems for my wife.” Aaron nodded at Charlotte. “She runs the Harrington Resort and Thurman wants her job. That’s the facts, unless you want me to speculate.”

  The officer took more notes. “And how does Tuesday tie to the incident tonight?”

  Aaron rubbed his forehead. “Thurman was searching the boat the other night. I told him that if he showed up again, I’d have him charged with trespassing. So I’ve slept on the boat a couple nights to keep an eye out. I figure Thurman for mind games. Looking for anything to hurt Charlie and accelerate his climb up the corporate ladder, but nothing physical.”

  “I’m the one he’s after.” Charlotte squeezed Aaron’s hand. “I’m sure Perry hired those guys.”

  “Yeah, and since the police didn’t catch them, that’ll be a bitch to prove,” Aaron said.

  “Can you tell me exactly what happened tonight?”

  Aaron took a deep breath. “I walked by the boat. Saw movement. A guy dressed in dark clothes trying to break into my office. He kicked the door in, but I grabbed his arms and pinned them back. He had a black knit cap over his face and I couldn’t turn loose of his arms long enough to yank it off. He kicked backward and caught my shin. I started to spin him when a second guy caught me from behind and pulled me off the first one. We scuffled and I kicked the first guy in the groin. He went down, but the other guy had me in a choke hold.”

  “They both had on masks?”

  “Yeah. We circled each other and exchanged a couple blows. I had him against the rail when the first guy came at me with a knife. I shoved one guy overboard, but the one with the knife evidently took the pain in his groin personal. He jumped at me cursing in Spanish.”

  “Can you describe him?”

  “Small. Wiry build. Fluent in street Spanish.”

  The officer continued writing. “And did he go into the water also?”

  Aaron shook his head. “No. We fought it out, but I couldn’t get the knife away from him. He kept slicing it back and forth to keep me at a distance. I lunged for it and he stabbed for my chest, but I turned and the knife caught my arm instead. I was so pissed, I chased him down the dock.”

  “Did they take anything?”

  “Not that I could find. I must have surprised them shortly after they boarded because the cuddy was still locked.”

  The hospital finally released Aaron around ten, but before he’d let Charlotte take him home, he insisted she drive by the boat.

  Two officers were still on board. Yellow crime scene tape surrounded the Free Wind and one officer stood watch. The second had a flashlight in his hand shining it down the side of the hull.

  When she and Aaron tried to board, the officer blocked the way. “Crime scene, sir. You can’t come aboard.”

  “It’s my boat,” Aaron said.

  The officer demanded identification, then moved aside and allowed them to cross the short gangplank.

  She followed as Aaron checked the cuddy and the office. Nothing out of place, so that was good. He’d have to get someone to replace the office door tomorrow morning.

  They drove the remaining distance to the bungalow in silence.

  When Aaron crawled into bed his forehead was creased and his lips were a thin line.

  “What do you think Perry’s planning?” she asked.

  Aaron stretched out and rubbed his arm. “Not sure. But I need to know every detail about what happened between you and Thurman.”

  “You mean back in college?”

  “I mean everything leading up to tonight.”

  “What are we going to gain by talking about this?” Charlotte scrubbed her hands over her eyes.

  “I need the facts to be able to deal with him.”

  God, she did not want to dredge up all the old hurt. She took a deep breath. “Perry was the first guy to show an interest in me, romantically I mean. I was twenty-three and had never had more than a couple dates with the same guy.
”

  She sat up and drew her knees under her chin. This was too personal. She didn’t want Aaron to know what a loser she was. She squeezed her eyes shut.

  He touched her arm. “Charlie, you can talk to me. We’re in this together.”

  She swallowed and opened her eyes, staring into Aaron’s concerned expression. He needed to understand. “Perry was so charming. When he asked me out, I was flattered. The only guys that ever talked to me usually wanted help with an assignment.”

  Aaron turned and propped his head up on his good arm. “Go on.”

  “He told me he loved me, wanted to marry me. We talked about the future, running our own chain of hotels. We started sleeping together.”

  Tears swamped her eyes, but she had to finish. She was the woman who never cried, yet tonight the emotions were raw. “He was the first, you know?”

  He reached out and ran the back of his knuckles down her cheek. “I hate to put you through this.”

  “I couldn’t wait to introduce him to Edward. They hit it off, like I knew they would. Everything was perfect, until I let myself into his apartment one afternoon.” She took a deep breath and welcomed the warmth of Aaron’s arms. “I guess he figured it was his roommate, because he didn’t get out of bed. I recognized a female voice. He was having sex with another woman on the sheets I’d bought for us.”

  She could picture everything as vividly as if she were standing in that apartment. Her voice cracked. “She said she didn’t know how he could stand to have sex with someone as homely as me. He laughed and said—”

  Aaron touched one finger to her lips. “Don’t say any more. I get the picture. I’m going to kill the bastard.”

  As humiliating as it was, now that she’d opened the emotional floodgates, she couldn’t stop. “They joked about how stupid I was. He said he’d stay married to me long enough to take over Harrington’s and then they’d have it made. By the time I figured out what was happening, there wouldn’t be anything I could do.”

  Aaron held her cradled in his arms, but he didn’t speak.

  “I was mortified. I wanted to slink out of the apartment and pretend I hadn’t heard them. But my pride wouldn’t let me. When I opened the bedroom door, he jumped out of bed and tried to tell me it was nothing. I felt like such an idiot.” She swiped at her damn tears. “Have you ever noticed that little bump on his otherwise perfect brown nose?”

  He laughed. “Good for you.”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t go to Edward.” Charlotte eased out of Aaron’s arms, got out of bed, and paced. She was too agitated to lay still. “I didn’t know it, but Edward and Perry flew to Monte Carlo the next morning. When they returned, Edward told me he’d promised Perry the manager position after we graduated.”

  “So he got what he wanted, or at least the first step toward it?”

  “I should have leveled with Edward then, but Perry had me pegged. He knew I wouldn’t make myself look like a fool.”

  She leaned against the dresser and shook her head. She was finally beginning to calm down. “Perry and I both graduated with a BA, but Edward sent him off to Monte Carlo as a manager. So for two years while Perry realized my dream, I did the grunt work at the Boston resort and took classes.”

  “What did you tell Edward about not getting married?”

  “That I needed to finish my master’s first and learn the business, then we simply let the marriage idea die.”

  She paced to the door, spun, and went back to the window. “After I earned my master’s, Edward put me here to prove myself. ‘Work my way up,’ he said. ‘No favors for the boss’s granddaughter.’ The Marathon resort is the oldest in the chain and had been neglected since Daddy’s death. But I love this resort.”

  Aaron walked over and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on top of her head. “Yeah, well if Perry wants to play dirty, he’s come to the right guy.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Aaron wanted to lure Thurman into a dark alley and beat the crap out of him, but for Charlie’s sake, he’d settle for exposing him. He had to prove that Thurman was behind the goons who broke into the boat.

  Not wanting to tip the guy off, he’d talked the police out of questioning him, for the time being. He had another plan. However, there was some consolation that the name Perry Thurman was now officially on a police report.

  The boat was still taped off and Aaron wasn’t supposed to get his arm wet for a week. He canceled his tour and made an appointment for a guy to come repair the office door.

  Charlie invited him to stop by for lunch after he finished at the Free Wind. The resort seemed a good place to start his own snooping. He could play that game as well as Thurman could.

  He grabbed two turkey sandwiches from the corner deli and headed to Charlie’s office.

  “Well,” she asked when he opened the door. “Did they find anything?”

  “No unknown prints. Which figures since they were wearing gloves.” Aaron watched Charlie clear a space on her desk for the sandwiches. “As far as I can tell, I arrived before they got into anything.”

  “Perry is acting smug. Even on the off chance he wasn’t behind it, he had to have noticed the police scouring your boat, but he didn’t say a word.”

  “Cops promised to keep an eye on him. But I’m going to sleep on the boat from here on.”

  “Hire somebody. I don’t want you down there alone. Not after this.”

  “I’m a big boy, Charlie. While Thurman was in prep school, I was surviving the streets of South Miami.” He winked. “Could you have security watch Thurman without him finding out? See if they can catch him talking to anyone suspicious.”

  “Sure.” She rubbed her thumb over his bruised cheek then dug a bag out from under her desk. “I got you something that might come in handy.”

  He took the bag and pulled out a cell phone. “I thought we’d discussed this.”

  “It’ll make me feel better.”

  “You’re right. It’d be good if we could get hold of each other.” He’d never wanted a cell phone, but given the circumstances. “Thanks.”

  They finished their sandwiches and he decided to head for the Gecko. Raul should be opening up about now. But first he walked through the resort restaurant. He had a hunch about where he’d heard that French accent. He waited until the chef came out of the kitchen. Sure enough, it was the same guy who had taken to hanging out at the Gecko lately.

  THE GECKO WAS QUIET, with only a couple of early patrons. Ceiling fans circulated just enough of a breeze to keep the open-air dive from sweltering.

  “What brings you in this early? Figured you’d still be basking in the sparkling blue of the Atlantic.” Raul stopped short at the sight of Aaron’s face. “What the hell happened to you?”

  Aaron gave the other two regulars a quick once-over and dismissed them as harmless. “Two guys broke into the boat last night.”

  “Dios!” Raul frowned.

  “I’m after Thurman’s ass.” Aaron blew out a breath. “Do you remember that Frenchman who was in here the other night? He and another guy were tossing back beers at the end of the bar.”

  “Older guy?”

  Aaron nodded. “Yeah, drinking with a young Latino.”

  “Sal, a local fisherman. They’ve been in here together two or three nights a week for the last month. The Frenchman can put it away. I don’t know how Sal can afford it.”

  “Sal always picks up the tab?”

  Raul’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t remember the Frenchman ever pulling out his wallet.”

  “Don’t you think that’s odd? Why would Sal always be buying another guy drinks?”

  “Sal’s married to Rosa’s cousin, two or three times removed. He’s got a wife and umpteen kids living in a falling down rattrap outside of town. She’d skin him if she knew he was throwing away money on that fancy gigolo.”

  Aaron smiled. “That was my first thought. The Frenchman is Charlie’s chef. He was ogling a cute little brunette waitress
at lunch. My guess is Thurman’s funding these little drinking escapades to make sure the chef’s too hungover to show up for the early shift.”

  “Thurman’s the guy that Charlotte didn’t want to marry bad enough to pay you a hundred grand?”

  “Yep.” He jotted down his new cell number on a napkin and handed it to Raul. “If Sal shows up, let me know. I’d like to have a little chat with him.”

  “A cell phone?” Raul grinned.

  “I’m not sure how far Thurman will go to prove our marriage is a farce. I don’t want her hurt.”

  Raul flashed that know-it-all bartender look that made the hair on the back of Aaron’s neck stand on end. “Is it a farce, my friend? You’re sure getting drawn into the lady’s problems.”

  “Charlie doesn’t realize how ruthless this guy is.” Aaron stood and dropped a couple bills on the bar. “Up until last night it was mind games. Thurman just upped the stakes.”

  AARON STOPPED BY THE DIVE shop to arrange for one of the guys to help on the boat for the next couple days until his arm healed. Not being able to get in the water stunk.

  His cell phone startled him when it chimed “Reveille.” He had to figure out what he did to get that damn ring tone.

  Raul was on the other end. “They’re here.”

  On the way to the bar, Aaron called Charlie’s office. “I’m going to grab dinner at the Gecko and sleep on the Free Wind tonight.”

  “Aaron, please be careful.”

  “I’m always careful.”

  He walked into the Gecko and spotted Sal and the Frenchman laughing at a small table at the far end of the room. Judging by the bottles on the table, they were on at least round two. Aaron ordered a whiskey and waited. The drunker Sal was when he confronted him the looser his tongue might be.

  The club slowly came alive with night sounds, but Aaron continued to nurse the same drink. The band of the evening arrived with spiked hair and leather. He figured they weren’t old enough to be allowed out past midnight, so maybe he wouldn’t have to listen to too much of their noise. Sal and the Frenchman continued to put away the booze. The Frenchman drank two to Sal’s one.