The Sharpest Edge

by Stephanie Rowe

  She blinked back her tears. “I love him. I don’t know if I forgive him, but I still love him.” How could her dad have gotten like this? In her mind, he was still the powerful man who’d hauled firewood when his guests ran out. Unstoppable. Fierce. “He’s withered away.” Had she caused this? Was this her fault? Was Sean right that her walking out on her father had been his undoing? His daughter took off, his wife killed herself and his other child left as well, leaving him with nothing except an old camp.

  How awful for him.

  She’d never thought of it from his point of view. “Did Helen…? Do you think she helped him through it?”

  “Through what?”

  “Everything.”

  “Yes, I do. I think he would have died of grief if it hadn’t been for her and her kids.” He tightened his grip on her hands. “If she really betrayed him…”

  Kim put her finger over his lips and nodded at her dad. “If he can hear us…”

  Sean nodded and leaned forward. “We’re all here for you, Max. Kim, Helen, me. And as soon as we finish this deal with Jimmy, Cheryl will be back, as well. We need you.”

  Stupid tears wouldn’t be stopped this time, but she didn’t care. “I love you, Dad. Wake up so we can fight about what happened ten years ago, okay?”

  Sean gave her a look. “That’s the best you can do?”

  She glared at him. “You’re a pain in the butt. I just told him I loved him. I think I’ve come pretty far, personally.”

  “You can’t apologize for abandoning him?”

  “No, I can’t. Not until I hear his side of the story.” She turned her dad. “Hear that, Dad? If you want an apology from me, you’re going to have to wake up.” She leaned back. “There. That ought to provide an incentive for him to come around, the potential for having me grovel for his forgiveness.”

  Sean shook his head and she realized he was laughing quietly.

  She gave him her best scowl, not that easy given that there were still a few tears on her cheeks. “What’s your problem?”

  “You. You’re a piece of work.” He caught the back of her head in his hand and pulled her close, giving her a soft kiss.

  Oh, wow. This felt right, so right. Did her dad know they were kissing? Would he be pleased?

  Oh, who cared? She was doing this for herself. It was only about them.

  Wait a sec.

  Was Sean doing this for her dad because kissing her was as close as he could get to bringing him back to life?

  She pulled back and frowned at him.

  He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m not even going to ask what that look is for. I don’t want to know.” He kissed her again before she could argue.

  Oh, what the heck. Kiss now, talk later. Instant gratification wasn’t a bad thing, was it? She let go of her dad’s hand and gripped Sean’s wrists as he cupped her face. It was a tender kiss, relatively pristine on the surface, but the roar of emotions thundering through their intermingled breaths was appropriate only for the most private of encounters.

  She sighed and let him take over the kiss. What was she doing? Falling in love with the man who hadn’t truly loved her? No wonder she didn’t want to go back to L.A. Should loving him feel wrong? Because it didn’t. Not at all.

  The sound of a throat being cleared pulled them apart. Helen was standing in the doorway, and she looked inordinately pleased. “So you came to see him.”

  “Um, yeah.” Kim felt Sean’s muscles contract at the sight of the woman who might have betrayed her dad, so she laid her hand over his and squeezed.

  Helen smiled and walked in. She carried a vase of fresh flowers and a Boston Globe. “I’m going to read him the latest Red Sox news. He loves them, you know.”

  “I know.” Kim watched Helen dump some barely wilted flowers into the trash, then refill the vase with the fresh ones. She knew those flowers. They were the same kind her father had planted outside the office at the camp. Helen had brought the camp to her dad.

  Were these the actions of a woman who was trying to ruin the Loon’s Nest or steal from her husband?

  Helen pulled up a chair on the opposite side of the bed and took Max’s hand in hers. “You two have gotten back together, I see. Max will be so glad.” She smiled at Sean. “He has always loved you like a son.”

  Sean blinked a couple of times. “Until I drove his daughter away.”

  Where did that come from? Since when did he take responsibility for Kim leaving him? It had been her fault. Was he sharing the blame now? And if he was, what did that mean for today? For their present and their future?

  Helen shook her head. “No, Sean. He never blamed you for that. It didn’t matter whether you married Kim or not. You were always his son, regardless.”

  Sean’s Adam’s apple dipped as he swallowed, but he said nothing.

  “Max doesn’t always tell people that he cares.” Helen stroked his hand. “I’ve been working on him, but old dogs don’t like to change their ways.” She looked at Kim. “He’s always loved you, too, Kim. You being here… Well, I can’t even tell you how much I appreciate it. He’ll wake up for you.”

  This was the woman who wanted to destroy Max? The woman Kim had spent so many years hating? She looked at Sean and knew he was thinking the same thing. How could they accuse her of embezzling from the company her husband loved? Yet, the evidence was there.

  “Helen,” she said, “we need your help.”

  Sean raised an eyebrow at Kim, and she patted his hand.

  Helen nodded. “Of course. What do you need?”

  “We discovered that the reason the camp is in trouble is because someone has been embezzling funds. There’s only enough money to pay the operating expenses for the next two weeks.”

  Helen’s face drained of all color. “Are you serious?”

  “Yes.”

  Her grip tightened on Max’s hand. “But who would do this?”

  “You have to help us,” Kim repeated. She didn’t want Helen to take her next sentence the wrong way. “We traced it and the money is being funneled into your personal bank account to frame you.”

  Sean made a noise of protest, but she ignored him.

  “Who would know your account number? Who would want to set you up for this?”

  Helen looked shocked. “You would.”

  Oh, well. Hadn’t been expecting that.

  “You’d want to send me to jail or, at the very least, prove to your father that he should leave me.” Helen’s face regained some of its color and she began to look angry.

  Better stop that slide. “Helen, I didn’t do it. Yeah, okay, so there was a time when I would have been happy to see you, um, discredited.” She ignored the condemning look on Helen’s face. “But I’d never do something like this. And even if I would, I’ve changed my mind.”

  “You have?” Helen looked more than a little skeptical.

  “You have?” Sean sounded startled.

  “I have.” Kim took her dad’s hand in hers again. “If you make him happy, then he should have you.”

  “Since when do you want him to be happy? I thought you wanted him to suffer.”

  She sounded like a nice person, didn’t she? “I haven’t forgiven him, but I’m willing to hear his side of the story.” She stroked his hand. “I guess seeing him here like this… Well, I’m not ready to lose the only parent I have left, you know? And if he needs you, then I guess that’s okay with me.”

  Sean slipped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed. At least Sean didn’t hate her.

  She waited for Helen to answer, but the woman said nothing. Silence fell over the small room until Kim was just about ready to suggest to Sean that they leave.

  Finally, Helen said, “If it’s not you, then I don’t know who it is. Do you?”

  Sean hesitated, then filled Helen in on John Ramsey and the few suspects at the camp they had who matched his profile.

  When he finished, Helen’s forehead was wrinkled in thought. “I don’t l
ike that Tom Payton. He never seems to be working, and I don’t think he knows much about boats. Eddie can’t stand working with him.”

  Kim recalled Eddie’s complaints that Tom didn’t know a life jacket from an engine. “Why would they hire someone for the waterfront who wasn’t experienced with boats?”

  “He claimed he was. They didn’t realize he’d lied until he’d been there a few weeks already. Max couldn’t get another replacement at this late date or he would have fired him this summer.” Helen rubbed Max’s forehead. “Tom was pretty pissed when Max told him he wouldn’t be invited back next year.”

  Kim frowned and looked at Sean. Had Tom been mad enough to set up the accident?

  THEY STOPPED BY Will’s house on the way to the station.

  No car in the driveway.

  Several days’ worth of newspapers piled up on the front step.

  Kim rapped on the door while Sean tried to peer through the windows. “Furniture is still here. There’s a pizza box on the coffee table.”

  “Well, he’s not answering the door.” Kim set her hands on her hips and couldn’t ignore her relief. It was a little unnerving to be marching up to the house of the man who could be John Ramsey. Yeah, sure, Sean was armed and had his gun ready, but still. It was wigging her out.

  “I’ll call and leave him a message to come to the station. Probably won’t work, but it’s easier than going through the courts for a warrant.”

  They walked back to the car and, as Kim was climbing in, she glanced back at the house. Then she frowned. “Sean? Was that blind in the second-floor corner room open before?”

  Sean peered up at the house. “I don’t remember.”

  “I could have sworn it was open.” They stared at the window for a long moment, but nothing moved. “I guess not.”

  Sean pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll call him right now.”

  They waited while the phone rang.

  No sign of movement from inside.

  “Hello, this is Officer Templeton from the Ridgeport Police Department. We need Will Ambrose to come down to the station for an interview. Please call the department and arrange a time.” He left the number, then added, “Or you can open your front door and do the interview right now. I’m outside, and I saw you through the window.”

  Kim shot a glance at Sean. “You did?”

  He pointed at the window in the room on the far left of the second floor. She looked up just in time to see a shadow move away from the window. A chill went over her. “He’s watching us.”

  “Yep.”

  “Are you going to go in after him?”

  “I don’t have a warrant.” Sean shoved his phone in his pocket and leaned across the roof of the car, watching the house. Waiting.

  Waiting for the man who might want to avenge Jimmy’s death. Was he watching her right now? Sharpening his knife as he studied her?

  “Get in the car, Kim.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he’s watching you again. I don’t like it.”

  Well, hell. Neither did she. After she got in the car, she hunched down. Stupid, yeah, because he already knew she was there, but it made her feel better.

  Sean dug out his phone again and hit Redial. “You touch her and you die.”

  Then he hung up, climbed in the car and started the engine.

  “Um, Sean?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Was that necessary?”

  His gaze flicked to her. “I hope not.”

  Reassured, she wasn’t. She was scared. Not only of dying, as she’d been for the past eighteen months. Now she was scared of dying before she had a chance to talk to her dad. Before she had the opportunity to figure out what was going on with her and Sean. For the first time in a decade, she was more afraid of what she’d lose if she died than she was of actually dying.

  She reached across the front seat, pulled Sean’s right hand off the steering wheel and held on. He glanced at her in surprise but didn’t say anything. Instead, he squeezed her fingers ever so slightly and gave her a small smile.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Sean had another officer pick up Tom and bring him to the station. It was time to put some serious pressure on the kid. Sean let Tom sit in the interrogation room for two hours before heading in there. By then it was dark and the youth was getting restless. And nervous.

  Sean left Kim in the main office while he went in to talk to Tom. Sean sauntered in, threw one leg across the chair and leaned on the back of it. “Tom.”

  “Why am I here? Why are you keeping me here? Don’t I have rights? Shouldn’t I be allowed to leave? I didn’t do anything. I swear, I didn’t! Just tell me what you want and I’ll explain and then let me go home!” He wiped his forehead, but the sheen of sweat remained.

  As Sean had expected, Tom was going to be an easy one. “You ever been to California?”

  Tom blinked, as if he hadn’t expected the question. “What?”

  “California. You ever been there?”

  “No. Why? Should I?”

  “Where were you born?”

  “Madison, Wisconsin.” Tom shifted. “Listen, I didn’t do anything, I swear.”

  “What’s the name on your birth certificate?”

  He frowned. “Thomas Winfield Payton. But you must know that. Don’t you have my birth certificate or something?”

  “Why’d you hurt Max?”

  Tom’s face turned a blotchy red. “I didn’t hurt him! I swear it! I didn’t even touch the boat that day. Yeah, I know Eddie said I did and I was supposed to, but I wasn’t even there.”

  “Where were you?” Sean kept his voice casual and friendly. Plenty of time to become intimidating if he needed to.

  Tom clamped his lips shut. “I’ll get fired.”

  “Haven’t you already been fired?”

  He cursed. “So what? I didn’t need the job anyway. Who cares? Is that why you think I hurt him? Because he fired me? Give me a break. Would you hurt someone over a job working for some old guy on a bunch of ancient boats? No way.”

  Dumb kid. Didn’t even appreciate the camp. “You’re our number one suspect in Max’s accident. Witnesses report that you became angry when Max told you not to return next summer. You work at the boathouse and were on duty the night Max got in the accident, yet you say you saw nothing. You have motive and opportunity. If Max dies, you’re up for first-degree murder.”

  Tom’s face did a slow morph into shock as he absorbed Sean’s words. “M-m-murder?”

  “Murder one. You feel like talking?” Sean saw the change come over Tom’s face and knew the kid was going to spill. Spill what? That was the question. “I would have been really ticked if Max cut me off. Mad enough to go after him. Not to kill him, but accidents happen, you know?”

  “No, I didn’t!” Tom leaned forward. “This is the deal. I wasn’t at the job that day because I took off with one of the guests.”

  “A guest? Who?”

  “A girl. Underage.”

  “Name?”

  He shook his head. “No way. I’m not pulling her into this. But I would have lost my job immediately if Max or Eddie found out. First, I’m not allowed to date the guests, and second, she was seventeen. I wasn’t at work that night because we took a canoe out to one of the islands and spent the night.”

  “That’s statutory rape.”

  “If I slept with her. I’m not saying I did.” The defensiveness was back in Tom’s voice. “Don’t you see? I didn’t kill Max. I wasn’t even there. Eddie would’ve fired me himself if he knew I took off, but he’s so out of it, he never notices if I’m not there.”

  “He trusts you. A novel concept for you, I’m sure.”

  “Hey, why should I bust my butt if I’m not coming back next summer?”

  “Why did you get mad at Max if you don’t care about the job?”

  “Because she was right there and heard the whole thing! I had to do something to save my rep! Took me two days to convince her that I wasn’t a lo
ser. I don’t need Max to screw up my social life, you know?”

  Sean leaned back in his chair and studied Tom while he continued to spew about his underage girlfriend and male pride. That’s what all that had been about? Sean shook his head. “I need the name of the girl who’s providing your alibi for that night. And I want a copy of your birth certificate.” He stood up and Tom didn’t protest.

  Much as Sean wanted this one to be easy, his gut bought Tom’s story. He wasn’t their guy.

  But that still meant that John Ramsey was at large and someone was embezzling from the camp. If they didn’t find out who it was, eventually the blame might land on Helen.

  Crud.

  SEAN WALKED INTO the main area of the station, feeling more than a little frustrated. Why the hell wouldn’t the folks in L.A. come up with some info on John Ramsey? It couldn’t be that hard, could it? He still hadn’t gotten the list of who had come to visit Jimmy when he was in prison.

  Then he stopped. Kim wasn’t in sight.

  He checked the bathroom.

  No Kim.

  His gut started to tighten and he grabbed a rookie doing paperwork. “Where’s Kim Collins?”

  “She left a few minutes ago.”

  “Left?” Left? “Where’d she go?”

  “I don’t know. I think she left a note on your desk, though.”

  He nearly threw the man aside and bolted for his desk. He recognized her writing on the folded sheet of paper with his name on it.

  I had to go. Alan called and said I’d better get over to my house. A break-in or something. Officer McKeen is going with me. Come over when you’re done. Hope it went well with Tom.

  Damn.

  OH, MY GOD. Her house. Windows were smashed. Glass littered the ground. Flowers were ripped up. The front door was almost shattered. The bulb on the lamppost had been destroyed. Total destruction. The crime oozed anger. Uncontrollable, violent fury.

  Kim tumbled out of Officer McKeen’s cruiser the second he stopped it, his headlights illuminating the devastation. Alan was standing in the middle of the driveway, his hands on his hips, his face brutally angry.

  “Alan? Are you okay?”

  “Fine. I found it like this.” His hands flexed and his face was red, a muscle in his jaw twitching. “Go inside. See what’s there.”