“This place is the best-kept secret in town,” Alex said as he carried the two coffees Joe had poured to the table where Ralph sat. He eased down in the chair opposite Ralph and smiled at Mick. “You enjoying your stay here?”
“Sure, it’s okay. My first choice was Hawaii but the wife saw some brochures about this place and you can see who won that battle.” Mick shook his head ruefully. “Either of you married?”
“Not me,” Deputy Perry said. “Got close a couple of years ago but it fell through.”
“And I’m divorced,” Deputy Gaines said. “I got to tell you there are some days seeing all the loving couples on the street makes me want to gag.”
They all laughed and then Perry sobered. “There are days I think Sheriff Lambert feels the same way. He liked things better before Mayor Jamison got this brilliant idea.”
“The sheriff would be okay if we could get more men on the force. He’s just overworked and underpaid like we all are,” Gaines added.
Mick looked at his watch. It was almost eight. Cassie would probably be up and he didn’t think he could learn anything else here. “Gentlemen, it’s been nice talking to you, but I need to get back to the motel.” He finished his coffee and threw the container in the garbage can provided, then walked back to the display counter.
“Guess I’d better take a couple of these sweet treats to go for my sleeping beauty. What do you suggest?”
“The raspberry filled,” Joe said without hesitation. “The ladies seem to love those.”
Minutes later as Mick headed back to the Sweetheart Suites, a bag of doughnuts in hand, he wished the deputies hadn’t appeared so early in his conversation with Joe. He had a feeling Joe could have added some names to their list of persons of interest if Mick had been alone with him for a little bit longer.
Maybe another early-morning visit to the doughnut shop was in order, unless, of course, the perp chose tonight to make his move on them.
He shoved away this thought, instead thinking about the schedule for the day. Thankfully the clouds from the night before were gone and the rising sun portended another hot July day. It was perfect weather for a leisurely canoe ride down the Black River.
As he opened the door to the room, he walked in to find Cassie in the bathroom. The bed was neatly made, his clothes from the night before were folded neatly on the chair and the note he’d written her was on the coffee table.
The room smelled of the coffee she’d made in the small pot and the faint whisper of her perfume. Her scent tightened the muscles in his belly in a not-unpleasant way.
He knew that today would be a difficult one for her. There was no way to control what happened on a river, and that would only add to her anxiety about being on the water.
He’d meant what he told her the day before. If they arrived at the landing and she found she couldn’t do it, then they would turn around and come back here and figure out something else.
Mick knew about crazy fears. He’d rather face a knife-wielding maniac than run into an itty-bitty spider. Besides, being afraid of water when you couldn’t swim wasn’t a crazy fear at all.
The minute she stepped out of the bathroom she looked both beautiful and nervous, letting him know she hadn’t forgotten the plans for the day.
“Good morning,” he said. “I come bearing gifts.” He sat on the love seat and patted the space next to him. “Grab a cup of coffee and see what I brought for you.”
“You were rather cryptic with your note,” she said as she poured her coffee. “‘Gone, be back in a little while’ doesn’t say much.”
She joined him on the love seat. She was dressed as casually as he’d ever seen her in a pair of denim jeans and a bright pink T-shirt that enhanced her blond coloring.
“I got up early and didn’t want to bother you so I took a walk. I found a little coffee-and-doughnut shop and sat in there for a little while.”
She opened the white bag and sighed with pleasure. “These look positively sinful.”
“I was told by Joe, the owner of the shop, that raspberries were a girl’s best friend.”
She bit into the doughnut and rolled her eyes. “He was so right.” She took another bite and a bit of the filling clung to the side of her lower lip.
He wanted to kiss it off. He wanted to lean forward and take her mouth in his, lick the sugary raspberry sweetness off her skin.
“So, you all ready for today?” he asked instead. “We’re set up to take off from the canoe landing at ten. The weather is perfect for a lazy ride down the river. We’ll be at the picnic area between eleven and eleven-thirty and after our lunch a car picks us up to take us back to the landing.”
He was rambling and he couldn’t seem to stop himself. He wanted to get his mind off his need to kiss her. “Of course, you know that if you don’t feel up to the whole thing we can turn around and come back here and make other plans.”
She popped the last of the doughnut into her mouth and wiped her mouth with a napkin from the bag. She then straightened her shoulders and eyed him with those amazing blue eyes that held both forced strength and a hint of vulnerability.
“I’m going to do this because it’s part of our job. Besides,” she offered him a smile, “I’m depending on you to keep me out of deep waters.”
As he gazed into her eyes and then lowered his gaze to look at her tempting mouth, he wondered how in the hell he was supposed to keep her out of deep waters when, where she was concerned, he was flailing in deep waters himself?
Chapter Seven
The Honeymoon Haven Landing was a noble name for the tiny boat dock and rickety wooden bait shack that stood on the banks of the Black River.
As they got out of their car, Cassie eyed the river with trepidation. The brochure she’d read about it had indicated that the Black River had a slow flow with no rapids and few jutting rocks that made it perfect for leisurely canoe rides.
Still, as she eyed the murky water, all she knew was that the river looked deep and wide and potentially deadly. They were greeted by a tall, thin man in a pair of overalls who introduced himself as Jeb Manning. His skin was as brown as a walnut and his teeth gleamed white as he explained about their river adventure.
“About an hour or so downstream you’ll come to a rocky inlet. You’ll see some picnic tables there and that’s where your lunch will be waiting for you. Have you all canoed before?”
“Never,” Cassie burst out.
Mick smiled and laid an arm across her shoulder. “It’s my bride’s first time, but I’ve gone canoeing many times.”
Jeb smiled at Cassie. “The secret is to just plant your butt in the center of the seat and don’t move around much.” He clapped Mick on the shoulder. “This guy looks like he’s got it under control.”
“I’m counting on it,” Cassie replied fervently. As Jeb and Mick helped her step into the boat they’d be taking, her heart leaped to her throat with the rocking motion.
“Just sit,” Mick said and pointed to the bench seat in the front of the small vessel.
She plopped her butt precisely in the middle of the seat and grabbed hold of either side of the canoe with her hands. Having successfully navigated getting into the vessel, some of her nervous tension eased, but it certainly didn’t disappear altogether.
Mick stepped in and got seated without rocking the canoe, and with a wave to Jeb he began to paddle them out into the center of the river where the flow of the water would carry them along.
“Okay?” he asked. He looked at her worriedly.
She was almost afraid to nod her head, fearing that the simple motion might throw off their balance. “So far so good,” she replied. “Shouldn’t we have life vests?”
He pointed beneath her seat. “It looks like there’s a couple shoved under there. Grab one for yourself. I don’t need one. I’m a strong swimmer.”
She pulled out one of the vests and wrinkled her nose in dismay. “Ick. It smells like fish and worm guts and has mold all over it.” Ther
e was no way she wanted to pull it on.
He laughed. “You actually know what worm guts smell like?”
“Not really, but I think it smells just like this life vest. Maybe I’ll just keep it here next to me in the seat where I can grab it if I need it.”
He nodded and smiled. “Just try to relax and enjoy the ride.”
She slowly released her death grip on the sides of the canoe and drew a deep steadying breath. “Okay, I’m going to try to relax.”
“It should make you feel better to know that this river ride was the last thing Bill Tanner and his wife did on the day of their murders.”
“I know, and that means maybe our man will try to get to us tonight.” She looked around. On either side of them was dense forest and lots of perfect places for somebody to hide, to watch and to plan. Still it was also impossible to ignore the stunning beauty of their surroundings.
“It’s hard to believe that this kind of paradise could be hiding a killer,” he said, as if able to read her thoughts.
As the canoe moved slow and steady, barely rippling the water, she truly found herself relaxing. “Even though we might be drawing the attention of a killer, this is kind of nice.”
He flashed her that killer grin. “Sometimes trying new things, being spontaneous, and a little bit of chaos is good for the soul.”
“I’m not sure you’ll ever get me to agree to all that,” she replied.
For a few minutes they floated, the sound of the water lapping gently against the side of the canoe and the call of birds overhead the only noise. Mick only paddled occasionally, allowing the natural pull of the river to take them downstream.
“Do you go canoeing a lot?” she asked, breaking the silence.
“I did a lot of it as a teenager, and in my early twenties, but then when I was about twenty-five I quit and haven’t done a lot of it since then.”
“Why did you quit?” she asked curiously. He appeared completely at ease in the canoe and handled the paddles adeptly. His features were relaxed in a way she hadn’t seen before. It was obvious he loved being out on the water.
He frowned suddenly. “I quit because the woman I was engaged to at the time thought it was a foolish waste of time.”
“The same woman who made you decide never to marry?” Cassie asked. She told herself she had no feelings for Mick, but she was suddenly ridiculously intrigued by the woman he’d once loved, the woman who had managed to break his heart. “Tell me about her.”
He paused a moment and then released a deep sigh. “Sarah Batterson. She was beautiful and charming and the epitome of high maintenance.” He paddled for a moment, a thoughtful frown still deepening a line across his forehead.
“Sarah and I were ill-fated from the beginning.”
“Where did the two of you meet?” Cassie asked.
“At a charity function. Her mother was in charge of it and I was my sister Patsy’s escort for the night. We met, started dating and the troubles began. Sarah didn’t like what I did for a living, she came from a privileged background that I didn’t understand. During the first six months or so that we dated, she broke up with me for some imagined slight at least a half a dozen times. She’d stay away for a couple of days, then come running back and I’d welcome her into my life again.”
He shook his head. “It was like she mesmerized me. My sisters hated her. They told me she was manipulative and shallow, but I didn’t want to hear it. I thought I was in love and I didn’t want to listen to anyone who had anything negative to say.”
“So, what happened?” she asked.
“She got pregnant and I proposed. I was going to ask her to marry me eventually, but the pregnancy just moved my time line up a bit. She started planning the wedding, everything seemed to be moving along smoothly and then we had another falling out.”
For the first time since he’d started talking about her his features showed signs of stress. A knot pulsed in his jaw and his shoulders grew more rigid.
“She accused me of not spending enough time with her. I was working too much and ignoring her. I knew she was being unreasonable but I figured I’d give her time to cool off and, sure enough, after a week she called me. She apologized for being a brat and told me she had a little confession to make. She’d been so angry with me she’d gotten an abortion, but she hurriedly assured me that we could still get married and have lots of babies later.”
He stared at Cassie with hollow eyes. “Just like that she told me that she’d gotten rid of my baby, like she’d thrown out a purse or a pair of shoes that was out of season.”
For a moment Cassie ached so deeply with his pain she couldn’t find the words adequate to reply. She wanted to wrap her arms around his big shoulders, hold him close and somehow try to absorb the pain that darkened his eyes, the pain that had caused him to apparently forever close himself off to any future love.
He gave a dry laugh. “Needless to say it was at that moment that I realized I couldn’t be in love with a woman that selfish. I broke off the engagement, moved on and never looked back.”
“Not all women are like Sarah,” Cassie said, finally finding her voice.
“I know.” He paddled for a moment and then stopped. “But I’ve just never met a woman who completely takes my breath away, a woman who I know will love me as desperately as I could love her. I haven’t met the one I want to share my heart with, share my life and soul with and until that happens, I’m a confirmed bachelor.”
His sentence was punctuated by a loud ping. Cassie looked around to find the source of the strange noise. Had they hit something in the water? Maybe a rock? Did a canoe hitting a rock make that kind of a strange sound?
There was another high-pitched ping. A small hole exploded inward in the side of the canoe right in front of where she sat.
“Somebody’s shooting at us,” Mick said frantically as he jumped up. Cassie had a moment of sheer panic as she realized his sudden movement had capsized the canoe.
She plunged into the cold water, the life vest that had been on the bench next to her nowhere within her fingers’ grasping reach. She felt herself sinking, unable to see anything but murky water.
A new form of panic swelled up inside her, a panic born of her childhood experience of near drowning. Frantically, she flailed her arms and her legs in wild motions that did nothing to move her up or down, but rather kept her trapped in the watery depths.
She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t find her way to the surface of the water. Up was down and down was up and water, water everywhere.
Hysterical laughter escaped her lips, appearing as a series of tiny bubbles that floated away, depleting part of the little bit of air she retained in her lungs. Somebody had shot at them. She was drowning.
Where was Mick? Had he been shot?
Was he somewhere floating in this watery grave with her? Was she all alone in the water? She could hear the sound of her parents’ laughter and someplace in the back of her mind she knew she was dying.
* * *
A MILLION THINGS WENT through Mick’s mind as he hit the water. The first was fear for Cassie. He knew she couldn’t swim and he also knew that somebody from the opposite shoreline had shot at them.
He stayed underwater as long as possible, swimming in the area near the overturned canoe in an effort to find Cassie. With every second that passed his terror for her intensified. There hadn’t been a chance to warn her that he was overturning the canoe. She’d had no opportunity to fill her lungs before she went overboard.
He broke the surface of the water, his gaze automatically going to the opposite shore to see if he could see the location of the shooter, to find out if there would be another shot fired.
He saw nothing but thick trees and overgrown brush, and no other shots were fired as his head remained above the waterline.
Cassie, his heart cried. He focused his attention on the water around him, seeking some indication of her whereabouts.
A frantic splash nearby sent him
in that direction and he prayed it was Cassie and not an overactive fish. When he reached the spot he dove down, frantically searching…searching. He had to find her before it was too late.
He nearly cried in relief as he grabbed something and realized it was an arm…and the arm was connected to Cassie. He pulled her up to the surface, afraid that it had taken him too long, that she’d already swallowed too much water.
As her head rose above the surface, she released a gasp, spewed out a mouthful of water, and immediately grabbed him around the neck in a death grip that dragged them both back under the water.
He struggled against her desperation, aware that her frantic terror could be the death of them both. “Cassie, relax, I’ve got you,” he exclaimed as they reached the surface again. “For God’s sake, relax. I’ve got you.”
Her wide panic-filled eyes darted in all directions, and then focused on him, and to his relief she went limp in his arms. “Lay back and let me take you to the shore,” he said.
Obediently, she did as he asked, but once they hit the shoreline, he kept them both half in the water as he once again scanned the opposite shoreline.
“S-s-somebody sh-hot at us.” Her lips trembled as if she were freezing, but he knew it was fear rather than any chill, as the sun beating down on them was hot.
“Stay low and head to those trees.” He pointed to the nearby tree line.
“What about you?” she asked.
“I’ll be right behind you,” he promised.
As she got to her feet, he did the same, his body effectively shielding her from any other bullets that might fly in their direction.
When she reached the cover of the trees she collapsed on the ground, drawing in huge gulps of air as if she couldn’t get enough. She wrapped her arms around herself and sat in a fugue of apparent numbness.
Mick kept his gaze narrowed to the opposite shore, seeking any movement that might indicate a person stalking them through the woods.
Who in the hell had shot at them? Had it been the killer? If so, then all the rules of the game had been changed. Their cover was possibly blown and they weren’t safe anywhere anymore.
Scene of the Crime: Black Creek Page 9