by Lena Gregory
Hunt shot him a warning glare.
Leo missed it, since he was looking at the table while he put his cup back down. “Is there any way he could be back here and you not know?”
Apparently giving up on keeping anything a secret around Leo, Hunt answered. “Anything is possible.”
Gia seized the opportunity. It wasn’t often you caught Hunt in a talkative mood. “You were going to tell me about the second body earlier, but then you had to run.”
Hunt grinned. “I wasn’t going to tell you anything unless you promised to stay out of the investigation, if I remember correctly.”
“Oh, right. It could have been something like that.”
He laughed. “It’s no secret, at least, it won’t be for long. Hayes was going to issue a press release tonight, despite my warnings not to.”
Leo pointed at Hunt with his fork. “You’re lucky he accepted your input at all, the situation being what it is.”
“I guess. Anyway, we were trying to locate Sean McNeil, just to see what he’s been up to. Unofficially, of course. Two bodies had been found and identified as Sean McNeil, though we only knew about one of them when Leo let the cat out of the bag.”
Leo shot Hunt a sheepish grin. “Sorry about that.”
“Yeah, right. Anyway, one body was found in Georgia and one in Tampa. Both bodies had been beaten beyond recognition and neither had any ID. They were identified by next of kin. One unidentified body was found in Texas that matched McNeil’s description. All of them had to be checked out, so I went to see for myself and determine if either of them could be the man I’m looking for.”
“Why were you looking for Sean McNeil? In connection with Marcia’s case?” Savannah sipped her sweet tea.
Hunt pushed his plate away and met Savannah’s stare. “In connection with your mother’s death. That’s why Marcia was so upset and so scared. She was pretty sure Aunt Sara was murdered over her involvement with McNeil and the zoning on the building his bar was in, and she didn’t want to be next.”
“And what do you think?” Savannah asked.
“I honestly don’t know, but I’m looking into it as if there’s a connection.”
“Have you gone to the records department and looked at the list of people who signed out the documents regarding the property?”
A smile played at the corners of his mouth. “It’s not my first day, Savannah.”
Savannah’s cheeks flushed.
Gia took a piece of roasted corn on the cob slathered in melted butter from one of the bags. “And what do you make of Hayes’s name on the list?”
Hunt stared hard at Gia.
Leo smirked and covered it with a cough.
Oops. She paused with the corn halfway to her dish. “I mean, uh…”
Hunt held up a hand. “Don’t even bother. Yes, I’ve seen the list, though I was told you two beat me to it.”
He seemed okay, so she bit into her corn—tender and loaded with butter, just the way she liked it.
“I also saw the surveillance video from the day Marcia signed out the paperwork.”
Gia set her corn cob down and wiped her mouth with a napkin. “And?”
“And it clearly shows Marcia opening the folder, skimming the paperwork, and stuffing it all into a briefcase she brought in with her.”
“So that’s probably the paperwork she was trying to get to me, but why?”
“I don’t know. The video also shows people in the background. Most we have been able to identify, but there’s one that’s unclear, sitting at a table in the back of the room, conveniently hidden in the shadows cast by a bookshelf.”
“So you think whoever it was knew where the camera was?”
Hunt shrugged. “Either that or he was very lucky.”
“He?”
“From what we can make out of his features and his posture, we think it’s an older man. He conveniently avoided getting caught on camera anywhere throughout the building.”
“So he had to have known where the cameras were, which means he’s probably been there before,” Gia said.
“That’s what we figure. We have techs going through footage for months before that day. So far, nothing.”
Gia pushed her plate aside and rested her folded arms on the table. “Do you think it’s one of the men on the list? Masters or McNeil? Both are older men.”
“I don’t know. And I also don’t know what to make of Hayes’s name on the list. Or some of the other names, for that matter. We already know Masters was trying to shut the bar down, so his name is no surprise. He wanted to build apartments, so it makes sense he’d research the property.”
“Why do you think Sara Mills signed it out a month later?”
“Isn’t that the million dollar question? Too bad my only hope of getting an answer disappeared without a trace, until he might magically have resurfaced in your café.”
Okay, no need for sarcasm.
“If I text you a picture later, will you see if you can identify the man who came into the café as Sean McNeil?”
“Of course.”
“And if it is him, keep in mind he may have had some kind of involvement in at least one, possibly two, murders.”
Chapter 21
Once Hunt and Leo were gone, Savannah and Gia settled on either end of the living room couch, a bucket of popcorn between them, as they had so many times when they’d lived together.
Savannah pulled a throw from the back of the couch and tucked it around her feet. “What do you want to watch?”
Gia nudged Thor over a bit so she could sit up with her feet on the floor between the couch and the coffee table. She opened her laptop. “Whatever you want is fine.”
“Something funny, I think.” Savannah used the remote to flip through the channels.
“Before you settle on anything, it’s time to keep my promise.”
“What promise?”
“I promised I’d help you try to find out what happened to your mother.”
Savannah slid forward beside Gia, clicked off the TV, and tossed the remote into a basket of magazines on the corner of the coffee table. “How are you going to do that?”
“Well, for starters, I’m going to finish the search I started last night before the storms hit.” She typed “Floyd Masters” into the search box.
“You think he has something to do with my mother’s death?”
“I don’t know, but he was involved in whatever was going on back then, so it’s a place to start.” She scrolled quickly through the social media sites—she could always go back to them later if she wanted to try to find him—to the Boggy Creek Town website, where the town council members were listed. She clicked on Floyd’s name. A small bio appeared beside a picture of an older man with a square jaw, gray hair, and a thick mustache. “Have you ever seen him before?”
“I don’t know.” Savannah perched on the edge of the couch and leaned closer to the screen. “Maybe. But without the mustache. It’s hard to tell.”
“The bio says he’s been a member for the past twenty years. Even give or take a year or so if this site hasn’t been updated in a while, I’m guessing he got on the council after his son was killed.”
“Seems like it.” Savannah paused. “Council members are elected. See if you can find anything from his election campaign.”
Gia typed “Elect Floyd Masters” into the search engine.
“Wait.” Savannah grabbed her hand before she could hit search and pointed to an article already listed. “Look. There’s Floyd’s name.” She ran her finger along the page. “And here, in the same article, my mother’s name.”
Gia clicked on the article from a local paper with Savannah leaning over her shoulder and read the headline. Local Woman Found Dead. She tilted the screen down. “Are you sure you want to read this? I could read it
quick and see if there’s anything that will help us.”
Savannah stared at the computer, lower lip caught between her teeth.
“Please, Savannah. I’ll tell you if there’s anything important. I promise.” The last thing Savannah needed was to read the details of her mother’s death.
She studied Gia a moment, then nodded, stood, and lifted their half-empty glasses. “I’ll go refill our drinks. Be back in a minute.”
Gia skimmed the article. It didn’t take long, as there wasn’t much information. A couple of paragraphs detailing Sara’s murder and how she was found in her home, and a plea to contact the police with any information. Nothing they didn’t already know. Only one line near the end caught her attention.
“Well?” Savannah put Gia’s sweet tea on a coaster and returned to her seat.
“Most of it is just a recap of what happened.” The details of which Savannah didn’t need to hear. “But it says here Floyd Masters was questioned and released.”
“What do you make of that?”
“I have no idea, and unless you know how to hack a police computer, I don’t know how we can find any details on why he was questioned.”
“So, now what?” Savannah slid back and laid her head on the back of the couch, staring up at the ceiling.
“Do you think Leo would check into it?”
“You mean without telling Hunt?” She turned her head to pin Gia with a stare.
“Umm…” On the one hand, she didn’t want Hunt to keep her from investigating. On the other hand, if she expected honesty from him, she couldn’t very well offer anything less in return. Pursuing a relationship with Hunt might prove a little more difficult than she’d expected. “No, it doesn’t matter if he tells him, but I can’t very well ask Hunt, since he’s suspended.”
“True.” Savannah stood and grabbed her purse from the corner where she’d dropped it on her way in. She dug through for her phone. “I’ll give him a call.”
“I’m just going to take Thor out.” Gia stood and reached over her head, stretching her back and shoulders, which were probably stiff from bending over the computer. Or possibly still from kayaking, but she hated to think she was that out of shape. She exercised. Sometimes. Once, she even went to the gym. “When I come back, we can watch a movie if you want. Come on, Thor.”
Thor scrambled to his feet.
Still spooked about finding the snake on her deck, she clipped the leash to Thor’s collar and grabbed the canister of bear spray.
If a dog could sulk, Thor certainly was. He enjoyed running free in the fenced section of the yard.
“Sorry, boy, I can’t let you run in the dark. Not yet, anyway.” Maybe not ever. No way she’d take a chance of him running into something that could harm him. Even with the back light on a motion sensor, she couldn’t be sure a snake would be big enough to set it off. Besides, the one on her deck had been lying still for a long time. The light would definitely have had time to turn off. “Just humor me for a little while. I’m working on getting used to this whole snake thing. You can run when it’s light out.”
Thor groaned.
She flipped on the back light; she wouldn’t want to take a chance of it turning off before they were done. After a quick scan of the deck, Gia opened the door and took a tentative step out, holding tight to Thor’s leash.
Thor vibrated with the need to get off the deck.
“Come on, boy.” She studied the fenced area but didn’t see anything, then descended the steps, keeping Thor close. “Be quick.”
Gia enjoyed the feel of the cool breeze washing over her. It was unusual in central Florida, but apparently the line of storms that had wreaked such havoc had preceded a cold front. She inhaled deeply, enjoying the feel of the cool, drier air, instead of the chest-crushing heat and humidity.
The smell of smoke wafted to her. Not the lingering smoky smell left over from the fire, but the unmistakable odor of cigarette smoke. What had Hunt said? That the investigator had found a small pile of cigarette butts?
Whoever had started the fire had probably been watching the house for some time. “Come on, Thor.”
Thor trotted back to the house at her heel.
She shut the door, flipped the lock, and ran into the living room.
Savannah looked up from the computer as Gia entered. “Is something wrong?”
“I smell smoke outside.”
She returned to whatever she was doing on the computer. “Probably left over from the fire, and the wind is carrying it toward the house.”
“Cigarette smoke.”
She looked up again. “Are you sure?”
“Positive. Do you know if Maybelle smokes?”
“No. I don’t mean ‘no, she doesn’t smoke,’ I mean ‘no, I don’t know if she smokes.’” Savannah picked up her phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling Leo.”
“For what?”
“To see what’s going on outside.”
“Put the phone down, Savannah. Leo has his hands full dealing with the storm damage. He doesn’t need to come running all the way out here to check if one of my neighbors is sitting on his deck smoking a cigarette. Besides, Thor didn’t even bark.”
“Hunt said a cigarette butt started the fire. If someone was standing out there smoking fairly regularly while watching the house, Thor might have just gotten used to it.” She stared longingly at the phone for another moment, then set it aside. “You’re right, though, Leo does have his hands full. So, what do you want to do? Ignore it?”
“I can’t really ignore it. What if whoever it is starts another fire?”
“All right…” Savannah set the computer aside and ran down the hallway. She returned a moment later with the bat Gia had just started keeping beneath her bed. “Come on. And bring Thor.”
“Aye, aye, Captain.” Gia couldn’t help but smile.
As petite as she was, Savannah wielding a baseball bat made for an imposing figure.
Savannah muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “smart ass” and strode toward the front door.
“Wait.” Gia grabbed her arm before she could fling the door open. “What if there’s something else out there?”
“Like what?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Snakes, bears”—funny, bears used to be at the top of the list, but they’d been bumped down a notch. Maybe she would get used to things in Florida as other, more sinister things made themselves known—“alligators. Take your pick.”
Savannah grinned. “Honey, what do you think the bat’s for?”
“Oh, uh…” Just to be on the safe side, Gia held up a finger, then grabbed the bear spray from the kitchen. She made sure she had a firm grip on Thor’s leash but didn’t wrap it around her hand this time.
Savannah laughed out loud. “Just come on.”
She strode out the door with Gia on her heels. She didn’t look around half as carefully as Gia would have as she headed across the lawn to the side of the house the fire had started on. With everything burned, there was nothing left to conceal a stalker.
Thor barked at the wooded property across the street and strained at his leash.
Gia made no move to rein him in.
Savannah crossed the street but stopped short of entering the woods. She stood on the road and held the baseball bat out over her shoulder in a two-handed grip that would have made her brothers and cousin proud. “If that’s you, Maybelle, you come out here right this minute.”
Silence ensued, except for the rush of blood in Gia’s ears and Thor’s barking.
“Don’t make me unleash my dog,” she yelled at the trees.
“Okay. Okay. Just call him off.” A shaky man’s voice came from behind a large tree draped in moss.
“Come out here,” Gia yelled.
An older man
emerged.
“Sean?” Gia squinted to see into the shadows.
Thor’s barking grew louder, more frantic. The hair on the back of his neck stood straight up. He bared his teeth and growled.
“It’s okay, Gia. You can call Thor off.” Savannah hefted the bat a little higher. “I’m pretty sure I can take him if he tries anything.”
“No, no. I’m not here to hurt you. I promise. Please.” The man held his hands up in a gesture of surrender.
“Thor, easy.” Gia petted his head. “Easy, boy. It’s okay.”
Thor looked up at her and stopped barking but remained alert.
“Who are you, and why have you been stalking me?” Gia asked.
“I’m not stalking you.”
Savannah scoffed.
“Well, not exactly, anyway. I was just trying to keep an eye on you.”
“Why?” Gia repeated.
“Please. I’ll tell you everything. Just put the bat down and hold on to that dog.” His attention jerked back and forth between Savannah and Thor.
Gia wasn’t quite sure which of the two he was more afraid of, but her money was on Savannah. Thor was a big teddy bear. Savannah grew up in a family full of boys and had a core of steel.
“Start with your name. Your full name.” Gia was fast running out of patience.
“I’m Sean McNeil. I used to own the bar where your café is now.”
“Why are you spying on me?”
“I already told you, I’m not stalking you, just keeping an eye on you.” His hands shook wildly.
“Why?”
Sean took a deep breath, his gaze still bouncing between Savannah and Thor. “Because Masters already killed one woman that I know of, and I figured he might be coming after you next.”
Chapter 22
Gia’s mind raced. Was McNeil talking about Marcia? “Who did Masters kill?”
McNeil seemed to be content no one was going to rip him apart, and he finally lowered his hands. Probably for the best. Wouldn’t want the neighbors to think he was being mugged and call the police.
“Are you going to answer me, or do I have to call the police?” Dang. She might even be able to do that if she’d thought to bring her phone. And since Savannah was wearing leggings and a long T-shirt, and carrying her bat like a slugger, chances were she didn’t have hers either.