Avery shifted, looked uncomfortable. Paige understood his discomfort; they were speaking about his parents divorcing.
“My mom and dad… didn’t really want to be together anymore,” Avery finally answered in a low voice. “My mom was always going out, and Dad would get really angry over little things, and…” He trailed off, visibly changing his train of thought. “Well, he’d yell a lot. When they argued, he’d always tell her that she wasn’t really anything without him.”
He suddenly clamped his mouth shut as though he had said too much. Paige’s mind whirled; Cynthia hadn’t said anything like that.
“Dad is… pretty demanding. He likes things to be perfect,” Avery continued carefully when Paige didn’t say anything, then shuddered slightly. “He always wants to get his way. I guess Mom finally had enough.”
He closed his mouth tightly again, his lips a thin line, and Paige realized she wouldn’t get anything more out of him. She had already gotten more than she bargained for, anyway. She glanced at Jack, whose face revealed a kind of resignation.
“All right… what about your aunt?” she asked, deciding to think about it later. “How did she get along with your mother?”
Surprisingly, Avery snorted.
“Not badly, but Aunt Cecilia is jealous of Mom,” he muttered. He shrugged at Paige’s surprised look. “As one of Grandmother’s daughters, she should really get some of her inheritance, but Grandmother struck her out of the will after Aunt Cecilia had a relationship with this Indian guy back in high school. Even if something happened to Mom, Aunt Cecilia would never get any money from Grandmother.”
Paige had known Elizabeth Benson was awful, but this just took the cake. She opened her mouth to question him further, but the sudden sound of an engine outside stopped her. Avery’s face drained of color as he leapt to his feet.
“You need to leave, now,” he insisted, as he realized he had said too much already.
“What?” Paige asked, startled at the sudden change.
“Aunt Cecilia can’t know I’ve spoken to you,” Avery said urgently. “Please, you have to leave.”
9
Hiding the Truth
Unable to do anything but react to the stress in Avery’s voice, Paige and Jack followed him to the door. It snapped closed behind them without a word.
“That was…” Paige said slowly.
“Concerning,” Jack supplied. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I guess you want to know what I know, too.”
Remembering his resignation at Avery’s words, as though they finally confirmed his suspicions, Paige nodded. She didn’t think she needed to ask much, though; Jack had already warned her about the rumors, so she had an idea of what was going on.
“Be careful,” Jack said. “If Avery wants to get us out of here so quickly, I don’t want to know why.”
They crept through the hallways, keeping an eye out for any familiar figures. Coming down the stairs, Paige ran into Jack when he stopped abruptly.
“What?” she hissed.
Jack waved at her, his glare telling her to keep it down. Carefully, she leaned around him, gasping softly as she took in the sight before them.
Of everyone involved in this case, she hadn’t expected to see Cecilia Benson and Alexander Orman standing together, the campaign manager leaning down slightly to talk to Cynthia’s sister quietly. She couldn’t tell if they had come into the building together or if they had run into each other, but they gave off the vibe of wishing to remain unobserved.
“What are they doing together?” Jack asked, eyes narrowing. “Alexander Orman told us that he didn’t know much about Senator Johnson’s family.”
“He definitely knows Cecilia,” Paige pointed out unnecessarily, eyeing how close they stood together. “Maybe they’re in a relationship?”
“Why keep it secret, though?” Jack countered.
Why indeed? If the two of them were seeing each other, why bother to keep it a secret? Had anyone else known they had a relationship? Avery hadn’t mentioned it, and Paige didn’t think Cynthia had said anything about her husband’s campaign manager seeing her sister.
Still, keeping a relationship like this secret didn’t affect the murder in any way; she doubted Cynthia would have cared too much. Plus, dating Orman would only improve Cecilia’s standing in her mother’s eyes; Alexander Orman boasted power, wealth, and good breeding, exactly the sort of man Elizabeth Benson would want for her daughter.
So why keep their connection a secret?
Highly suspicious.
The conversation looked heated. Neither of them appeared very happy, and then Cecilia gestured upstairs. Orman threw his hands up before stalking away. Scowling heavily, Cecilia stalked to the elevator and disappeared into it, not even glancing at the stairs.
Jack and Paige looked at each other. They didn’t need words to say what they needed to do now; in unison, they left the building and followed Orman.
He thankfully didn’t appear to need a car, and Paige and Jack followed him at a distance, keeping a wary eye on him. He muttered to himself as he walked, highly annoyed and scowling at the ground, hardly resembling the calm, collected campaign manager that had thwarted them the other night.
To their surprise, however, Orman merely walked straight back to Senator Johnson’s office. He paused outside for a moment, visibly calming himself down, and then, like an entirely different person, he sauntered inside.
“What was that all about?” Paige wondered.
“Nothing good, I’d say,” Jack said. “Now would be a good time to get in there and question him, but I doubt I’d get past security at the front desk. Ideally, I’d like to get in there now before he gets too far into the building.”
“Let me go, then,” Paige suggested.
Startled, Jack stared at her. Paige gazed back determinedly.
“Orman knows you’re the sheriff, but I’ve never met him,” Paige pointed out. “Maybe I can trick him into saying something.”
“It’s a good idea in theory,” Jack said unsurely. “But I didn’t really like the look of Orman just then.”
Paige scowled. “He looked like a grown man throwing a tantrum. Come on, Jack, you said you’d let me help, and I can do this better than you can right now.”
Jack stared at her, conflicted. A myriad of emotions ran across his face, too fast to catch and, unbidden, Paige remembered his confession from yesterday.
“… sometimes I wonder what would have happened if you had actually asked me to go with you, instead of just assuming I would…”
Stupid, why think about that now? she scolded herself. In her excitement over the discovery of Cynthia and Olivia’s failed business, she had pushed his words to the back of her mind, and now wasn’t the time to bring them up.
“All right,” Jack relented. “But if there’s any sign of trouble, get out of there, okay?”
“Right,” Paige promised with a grin; from the skeptical look on his face, he didn’t believe her. “I’ll get something out of him.”
“That’s not what I said!” Jack growled, but she was already off, speeding toward the office doors before he could stop her.
After the failures of the last couple of days she was determined to get something useful this time, regardless of whatever Jack said about real-life police work. A small part of her, however, seemed to hum in excitement; she was going to get the information they needed, she was going to be helpful to Jack…
Paige slowed down before she got to the office doors. Thinking for a moment, she ruffled her hair a bit to make it messier and tugged her clothes out of place a little, as though she had been walking for some time. Then, clutching her bag tightly, she wandered into the office, trying her best to look lost.
A handful of people milled around (far less than she would have thought, to be honest), and some of them gave her a curious look before turning away, uninterested. Glancing around and not seeing Orman, Paige wandered further inside, hoping that she wasn’t too late.
“Can I help you?”
Hoping against hope that the right person had stopped her (she couldn’t really say, “Sorry, I’m lost, but I was hoping to run into the campaign manager,” could she?), Paige turned around.
“This is a private office,” Alexander Orman continued upon seeing he had her attention, and she almost smiled in relief. He looked at her in annoyance, but not suspicion. “It’s not a tourist area.”
“I… sorry, I was lost,” Paige said, giving him what she hoped was an innocent smile.
“Lost?” Suddenly, Orman’s eyes narrowed. “Do I know you from somewhere?”
Too late, Paige remembered that he might recognize her from the other night, when they had confronted the senator at his home. Orman’s focus had been entirely on Jack, but there was a chance he could identify her, if given enough time. After all, the senator had no trouble realizing who she was, despite how dark it was on the driveway.
She panicked, wondering what to do. What would Jack do in this situation? Then she remembered that she was here precisely because there was nothing he could do as a well-known sheriff. If she didn’t do something quickly, he would recognize her, and any hope of information would go down the drain.
So, not even entirely certain of what she was doing, Paige sent Orman a flirty smile, looking up at him from beneath her eyelashes as she stepped in closer.
“I don’t think so,” she said, brushing her arm against his. “Since I’m sure I would remember meeting someone like you. I do know you from the papers, though.”
And, amazingly, some of his suspicion drained away. He seemed more uncomfortable, instead, but not enough, she noticed, to step away from her. He cleared his throat.
“Yes, well, I am well-known as one of Senator Johnson’s staff,” he said. “I’m often at the senator’s side to manage his current campaign.”
“Amazing,” Paige purred, stepping even closer. They were almost toe to toe now, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Well, Mr. Campaign Manager, I told you I was lost, didn’t I? I seem to have gotten turned around on my way to the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse. Any chance you can give me some directions from here?”
The lighthouse sat, of course, in the opposite direction, and she had been there more than once during her school years. But, as Paige smiled softly up at the campaign manager, she knew she had managed to convey her ignorance successfully.
“Well, it’s some distance from here,” he said graciously. “If you’d like, I can escort you? I have a break soon.”
Just half an hour ago, she and Jack speculated about a possible relationship between Cecilia and Orman. Of course, their interaction had been a little strange, but she couldn’t help but feel outraged at the very thought of yet another unfaithful man. She hid it all behind a bright smile.
“I would like that very much,” she cooed, taking a chance and putting her hand on his arm; he didn’t push her away. Without permission, an image of Jack’s face rose in her mind, and she forced it away; no point thinking about him right now. Paige made a show of looking around. “So, what do you do around here? It’s pretty quiet.”
“It’s the lunch hour,” Orman said with a laugh. “Normally this place is a hive of activity.”
“The elections are coming up,” Paige noted with a nod, fluttering her eyelashes at Orman when he glanced at her. “It’s all anyone can talk about these days. It must be very interesting working in an office running for re-election, though.”
“Not as exciting as you might think,” Orman said, laughing again. “Some days, it feels like we put in a lot of effort to get nothing back. Do you know the feeling?”
Paige nodded, though she had to admit she couldn’t really relate. Back in Portland, she always got back exactly what she expected. Admittedly, working on this investigation had been a lesson in patience.
Which you haven’t learned, Jack’s voice teased in her head. Mentally she shoved him away; now even her thoughts were betraying her. Why was Jack on her mind so much today?
No, she knew why. She simply couldn’t forget those words.
“… sometimes I wonder what would have happened if you had actually asked me to go with you, instead of just assuming I would…”
Because what would have happened…?
“… working in the office can be exciting,” Orman continued, and she wrenched herself back to the present. “The other day, we met with other senators; hearing their opinions is always interesting.”
“Senator Johnson must get to travel a lot,” Paige said, forcing her thoughts back on track. “Do you go with him?”
“Oh, yes,” Orman said with a proud smile. “I’ve seen many different things and met many different people.”
“How exciting!” Paige proclaimed, privately amused at his postulating. “Being here in Newport mustn’t be all that interesting though, with small towns surrounding it.” She put her finger to her lips as though thinking; Orman’s eyes dropped briefly to it. “Though, I did read in the news the other day that something had happened in a nearby town; Otter Rock, wasn’t it? A woman found dead on a beach?”
She looked at him expectantly, privately waiting for him to fill in the blanks.
“Get out,” Orman ordered suddenly.
“What?” she asked, reeling back.
He leaned forward into her space this time. The look in his eyes sent a chill down her spine as he bared his teeth at her. All his suspicion was back tenfold.
“Get out,” he repeated.
She couldn’t help it; she obeyed. Paige moved before she even thought about it, skidding out the door in seconds. Yet she couldn’t help but feel those eyes following her, dark with foreboding intent.
10
Suspicious Minds
Jack almost toppled over when Paige all but flew into him. She didn’t stop there, though; she grabbed his wrist and tugged him along, apparently intent on putting as much space between them and the senator’s office as possible.
“Paige, what happened?” he asked, startled.
“Just move,” she said tersely. “I’ll tell you in the car.”
She didn’t seem overly anxious, but something about her demeanor worried him. Something had spooked her, and that concerned him; very little gave Paige Moore cause to act like this.
Was it Orman? He had been who she was going to see. Had he said or done something to cause this? Yet what could he have possibly done in a room full of people to make Paige react like this?
“Did you at least get something?” he huffed at her; her pace hadn’t slowed at all as they got further away, and he had become acutely aware of how little running he actually did.
“Yeah, something,” she said grimly, not looking back at him. “I just don’t know what yet.”
Cecilia’s apartment wasn’t too far from the office, and Jack sighed in relief when the car came into view; he really had let his fitness slip a little. Only then did Paige slow down, and she seemed almost calm as she slipped into the passenger seat. Correctly deducing that she wanted to get out of Newport completely, Jack started the car and pulled out onto the road.
“So?” he demanded, unable to hold it in any longer. “What happened in there?”
“Honestly, I don’t even know,” Paige said, shaking her head. “I started to mention Cynthia’s body being found—and, no, I didn’t say I knew who it was—and he just…” She frowned down at her hands and then glanced at Jack, looking oddly unsure. It didn’t suit her. “The look in his eyes, Jack. I couldn’t really tell you what it was, but…”
She trailed off again. Jack pursed his lips, thinking. She had run from the expression on Orman’s face? He hated to think what it looked like.
“Put it this way; I wouldn’t have wanted to be alone with him while he was looking at me like that,” Paige said after a moment, subdued. “He looked angry enough to strike.”
“What, exactly, did you say to get him to look like that?” Jack asked, confused.
“Nothing
!” Paige exclaimed. “One moment he was offering to take me to Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, and then his mood flipped!”
Jack’s thoughts stuttered to a halt. As an officer, he knew what part of that statement he needed to focus on.
“Yaquina Bay Lighthouse?” he asked, instead.
Paige blinked at him, startled, not expecting him to latch onto that part of it.
“Yes, I asked him for directions there,” she said. She shrugged. “I needed some excuse to be there, so I pretended I was lost.”
“Lost?” Jack asked skeptically. “And that worked?”
“Not really, at first,” Paige admitted. “But I turned on the charm, and he was complete jelly!” She grimaced. “For all of a minute, anyway.”
Jack frowned. Orman’s reactions really needed to be the most important thing in all this. But, somehow, it was suddenly essential that he find out more about what, precisely, Paige had done in there.
“Charm?” he repeated. “Do I really want to know?”
“Nothing bad,” Paige shrugged. She grinned at him and leaned close, her eyelashes dropping down over her eyes. “Just a little… charm,” she murmured, breath brushing over his ear.
A shiver went through Jack at the unexpected actions, directly followed by a bolt of jealousy as he thought of her doing that to Orman.
Had she flirted with him like this? What had she said to him to make him agree to take her to the lighthouse she was supposedly trying to find?
“Anyway, I kind of had no choice. He looked like he was about to recognize me from the other night,” Paige sighed, leaning back. “I forgot that he might have seen me then, too. I should have remembered; the senator recognized me straight away.”
The senator… who she had somehow managed to get talking. Paige had been remarkably tight-lipped about how, exactly, she had managed to make that happen, though. He had the image of her leaning in close to Senator Johnson, whispering in his ear.
A sudden wave of nausea rolled over him.
Secrets of a Small Town Page 6