Eva’s phone rang then, and she hoped it might be Daniel, but she didn’t recognize the number. She answered, talked for a few minutes, and then hung up.
“That was the guy from the magazine. Arriving on schedule with his photographer. He has a hotel booked in Port Huron. He gave me the number.” That quashed her last threadbare theory about Daniel wanting his friend to stay on the premises and maybe wanting a vacant property to photograph. It hadn’t made sense at the time, but she so wanted to believe this was just a big mix up, another one of Daniel’s plans to make things better for her, if only she’d do things his way.
“See. I told you it wasn’t Daniel. Why would he ruin the one thing he’s wanted more than anything? He’s been after that guy forever to do a piece on Blue Lake.”
Eva allowed another tiny sliver of hope to wedge itself into her hurting heart. But then, a little voice whispered that Daniel could still get the press. The article would still be published. Except now Blue Heaven would be his.
She and Bob drank coffee. They ate Cheerios. When the hour got sufficiently proper to make a call, in Bob’s estimation, he called the hotel in Port Huron where Daniel said he was staying. Daniel had checked out.
“See, he’ll be home in an hour and we’ll get this entire thing straightened out.”
Eva kept wondering what to tell her mother. Or when to give up on Daniel and call the police. She would not ask her mom, her sweet retired schoolteacher mom living on a fixed income, to dip into her life savings to bail out her loser daughter.
“What did you tell the guy from the magazine?”
“I acted like everything was fine.”
“So they’re coming.”
“Yep.”
“Lily really wanted to meet them. Especially the photographer.”
Eva noticed for the first time that Bob didn’t seem much happier than she was, and she knew it wasn’t her situation. It was Lily, of course. He missed her.
“Have you heard from Lily?”
“Nope. You?” Bob’s voice lifted in hope.
“No. But then I didn’t expect to.”
“You don’t think Lily would have…” Bob hesitated, then said “No.”
“No.” Eva agreed.
“She’d have no reason,” Bob said. “I mean, I love Lily, so I think she’s perfect and would never do anything wrong, but also, she doesn’t have a motive. In the television shows, you always need a motive.”
“The problem is, there’s nobody with a motive. Except Daniel.”
“But Daniel wouldn’t do it,” Bob insisted.
“I hope you’re right.”
“I am. And you’re making me mad talking about him like that, after everything he’s done for you. He loves you the way I love Lily. Don’t you know that? Why are women so stupid?”
Bob stormed out of the room, leaving Eva to ponder the idea that Daniel loved her. He’d told her so. Twice. Right before he disappeared at the exact same time as all her money. Bob returned a few minutes later, sheepishly hanging his head.
“Sorry,” he said.
“It’s okay. Why don’t you call Lily? Not about what happened to me. Just to talk. I’m going to go over to Jane’s and see if she can ask her dad again for an extension on my loan. And then I think I better drive out to the Sheriff’s in Delton.”
****
Eva turned onto Jane’s block and saw Daniel’s car in the driveway. Her stomach flipped, so she pulled over before she reached Jane’s.
She got out of her car and walked toward Jane’s house, cutting across the lawn to the front door. In the picture window, she saw Jane and Daniel, champagne glasses in hand, toasting.
Toasting. The scene took a minute to make sense, but only a minute. They were toasting the fact that they’d wrested Blue Heaven from her. They only had eyes for each other and neither noticed as she turned away and walked back to her car.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
From the first, a part of her had known he would betray her. Intellectually, intuitively, she’d known there was still something there between Jane and Daniel. But her emotions, her neediness, made her blind to the truth.
All the signs had been there, she just hadn’t wanted to see them.
Exactly like Mom always said, she was relearning her lesson, all over again.
Both Marcus and Daniel had money and power. Both wanted something from her. Sex, but also something else. Marcus had wanted her youthful take on advertising. Daniel had wanted Blue Heaven. And she’d believed both of them when they told her they loved her.
The worst part was that with Daniel, she thought she’d done everything right. She thought she’d been cautious. She thought she’d matured, learned wisdom. But no, dumb as ever.
No wonder he didn’t mind working long hours for her. No wonder he hired extra crew at his own expense, paid more for materials than her budget allowed. He knew the place would eventually be his.
Even at the bank, he’d stepped down as an active employee so there’d be no conflict of interest. Hell, he probably put his share of the bank in Bob’s name just to make everything nice and legal. So many signs and she’d missed them all.
As she drove toward Delton, Eva thought more about how it would be to live in a town where she’d been made a complete fool of by two of its leading citizens. And further, the court battle she was bound to be headed into. She saw no way out. And she had no money to pay lawyers, while Daniel and Jane had bucks to burn. She was nobody and they were everybody who’d ever hurt her. She should just leave town. Sarasota was supposed to be a really nice place. Her mom said they had a great downtown with art galleries and coffee shops.
Her heart burned with grief. To leave all she’d worked for. To admit defeat. Blue Lake didn’t have a police department. The county had a Sheriff’s office two towns down and that’s the way she pointed her car.
The Sheriff’s office in Delton was a squat brick building. There were only two cars in the large asphalt lot, so she parked as far away as possible from the six or seven orange suited jailbirds behind a tall fence topped with barbed wire who were presumably out for fresh air and exercise.
She wasn’t afraid of the criminals. She just didn’t want to look at them. Same way she had not wanted to look at the truth about Jane and Daniel.
She shouldered her handbag and walked into the glass front door. At another set of glass doors, she saw a bored looking dispatch operator, a woman. Her voice boomed over a speaker “Can I help you?”
“I need to speak to the Sheriff. Someone hacked into my bank account and stole all my money.”
“Deputy Montclare is in.”
The woman buzzed the doors and they opened.
“Purse.” It took Eva a second to realize her purse would be searched. As the woman pawed through her wallet and gum and sunglass case, Eva studied her outfit. A tan uniform of shirt and pants that reminded her of the park ranger in Yogi Bear cartoons.
The dispatcher handed her purse back. “Name?”
“Eva Delacroix.”
“What’s the problem?”
Eva explained.
“You’re in luck. Montclare is out resident computer gee—expert.”
She picked up her phone and spoke into it. Eva could see two hallways, one presumably led to the jail, the other to offices. Dispatch Woman pointed down the hall on the left. Eva started to walk that way when a guy appeared dressed just like the woman she’d left at her desk, except for a shiny badge on his pocket and a gun at his side.
“Come right in, Ms. Delacroix.” Deputy Montclare was young, but he listened intently as she told her story, which was also being recorded by a tiny device on the desk between them.
He pushed the recorder off and got up. “I’ll just make a few calls and then we will head over to your place to collect evidence and dust for prints.”
“But I know who did it! I told you!”
“I understand. We’re just verifying. Proof. Right?”
“Okay,” she said as
his desk phone rang.
He picked up the phone. Spoke into it, his eyes shooting to lock with hers and then break contact. Not once, not twice, three times. What was going on?
Eva tuned into the one-sided conversation.
Deputy Montclare said, “She’s injured? Where? How critical?”
“Good thing you came here,” Deputy Montclare said, walking her out to her car. “You have the tightest alibi in the world.”
“Was it Jane? Is she hurt?” This was unreal. Could she really not know Daniel at all? Had he hurt Jane?
“Non-fatal. If your story pans out, she’ll go to trial. Your office is a crime scene. Don’t go back there until I phone you.”
Deputy Montclare left her to her broken heart and burning questions. Not somebody, but something had died. Inside of her. She drove home. She didn’t stop at Daniel’s or Jane’s or the antique store. She didn’t stop in Eddie’s for a burger. It was a gorgeous sunny day. If she had customers, they’d be at the beach. Maybe not swimming, but taking in the sunshine after a long Michigan winter.
The cops were at her place, crime scene tape blocking the office entrance. She went in the lake side door, and lay on her bed. Mama and kittens covered her with licks and purrs. It felt lovely, but her brain wouldn’t turn off, no matter how much she wanted it to. Even this room, her first sanctuary when she’d moved to Blue Lake, now had uncomfortable associations.
Daniel had made love to her here. That was one part of the equation that just didn’t add up, something she had not told the deputy. Why did he have to seduce her? To say he loved her and wanted to try to have a real relationship with her? Sure, guys liked to score, and some of them lied to do so, but it didn’t make sense. How could Jane say yes to that part of the plan? And when had Daniel become such a convincing actor?
She sat on the bed, disrupting Mama and the kittens, who all began grooming themselves as if nothing were amiss. What she needed to do, if for no other reason than her foolish pride, was to confront Daniel. She had to know, had he been the one to hurt Jane? She quaked at the idea.
She put on some makeup and did her hair. Daniel would regret messing with Eva Delacroix.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
After Bob told Daniel what had transpired that morning, he didn’t stop to charge his phone. Eva was at the sheriff’s anyway filing a report. Instead he went straight to Jane’s to confront her. It would take two minutes and then he’d call Eva.
He wished he had not gone to Port Huron last night. But it was fine. Or would be. He could fix this. He’d do anything for Eva. After he was finished with Jane, she would pay. She’d committed bank fraud. That had to be at least a felony.
He pulled his car into Jane’s driveway, got out and slammed the door hard. He felt like he had too much angry energy. He had to be careful not to do anything stupid but to calmly tell Jane that this was the end of her life as she knew it.
Jane answered the door wearing tight workout shorts and a crop top. Her hair was piled on top of her head but she clearly had not broken a sweat. She’d been waiting for him. What he had hardly wanted to believe was suddenly clear. All the signs were there in her crazy eyes. This had happened, but not on such a grand scale, before.
“I’ve been waiting for you.” Jane held her door open until Daniel went into her house. He got the chills just being in the same room with her. She must have stopped taking her meds a while ago if she’d gone this far.
Before Daniel could process a word, Jane grabbed him and kissed him hard on the lips. Disgusted, he pulled away. She hadn’t tried anything like that in over a year. He’d been sure she was finally over him, over her delusions that they’d get back together again. When they were younger, that was the pattern, but not for years now.
Daniel remembered how she’d had him in thrall after his folks died. She’d convince him to skip school, bring over porn, weed, and apple wine. They’d have sex for entire afternoons while Bob was in school, only leaving the bed to grab some food. He hadn’t always been the perfect parent, but eventually, the sharp shock of his parents’ deaths dulled, and he pulled himself together. He got rid of Jane. Or so he thought.
He noticed the champagne chilled and waiting in crystal glasses. She’d obviously had done some sipping before he’d arrived, but it was like she knew he’d be coming. After he broke off the kiss, she twirled away like a little girl in a party dress, grabbed the champagne, handed him a glass.
“We did it!” She held her glass high in the air before clicking it with his. Daniel, stunned by the kiss and everything Bob had told him, stunned that this was a woman who had committed a major crime, a federal offense, and she wanted to celebrate with him. He set the glass of champagne on a side table without touching a sip.
“I had nothing to do with whatever you did, Jane. How could you steal Eva’s money?”
“You can’t prove I did that. Nobody can.”
Daniel thought about Port Huron. His friend who’d taped the video the afternoon of the open house had been with the group. He’d told Daniel there was some strange footage of Jane. “He got you on tape. At the open house. When you used Eva’s computer? He filmed it.”
That shut her up. For a second.
“But I did it for you.” Jane drank off her glass of champagne and threw the empty glass onto her brick hearth. It shattered. She went over to the glass and deliberately chose a piece, quickly slashing across her wrist with the sharp end. Blood started flowing. Daniel knew then she was out of her mind. She was high or drunk or having another breakdown; it was hard to tell.
“Now we have the resort.” She started coming at him with the bloody piece of sharp glass.
“Jane drop the glass. Give me your arm. You’re hurt. We have to stop the bleeding.”
Jane did exactly as he asked.
He speed-dialed Jane’s father and put his phone on speaker so Augustine could hear what was happening while Daniel tried to wrap the wound.
“Call 911,” Daniel said as soon as Paul said hello. And then to Jane, “Why did you cut yourself? You’re bleeding. Let me wrap your arm up. We need to get you to the doctor.” He wanted Paul to hear that.
Jane seemed dazed as Daniel pulled her into the kitchen and used snowy white towels to staunch the blood on her arm, and to buy time.
“Your dad is calling an ambulance.” Daniel only hoped it was true. “And you’ve got to return the money you stole from Eva’s account.” Jane seemed impervious to the pain those wounds would certainly cause.
“Honey, we can give her back the funds after we foreclose,” Jane said, bleeding and drunk but still making deals. ‘We’ll pick up the property at a good price, I can negotiate the hell out of that one. She’s got to see, with you and me and my dad, who’s going to believe her against the three of us? Not to mention, she has like zero money for a lawyer.”
Daniel hoped old man Augustine had called 911. And that he was still listening.
“But what you did was illegal, Jane.”
“Nobody has to know.”
Daniel had never wished himself somewhere else as hard as he did right now. Somewhere nice with Eva, walking on the beach, sitting in her bungalow on a rainy night. He had taken Eva for granted. He realized now how much he loved her and needed her in his life. Meanwhile, Jane had calmed. She seemed to like him holding the towel around her arm and talking things over.
Jane’s father came. It seemed like hours later, but it was probably only ten minutes. By then the bleeding had stopped and Daniel knew she hadn’t done any serious damage to a vein or artery. He explained what she’d done to Paul, and left him to take care of his daughter.
****
Daniel drove home. He didn’t need to call Eva. Her car was on the curb in front of his house. He came into the living room. She sat there with Bob. Eva’s eyes were closed, her head thrown back against the sofa.
She opened them when he said her name.
He told her everything that had happened at Jane’s.
“
This is crazy,” she said, not moving a muscle. Just looking at him with a hot intensity. He knew she had to be fatigued. Probably hadn’t slept. He wished he could take care of her, but first, they had to get through this horrible thing. Because it still wasn’t over.
Eva told him what the deputy had said after formally taking her complaint down and he’d gotten that phone call. He hadn’t said anything else. “My office is a crime scene!”
Daniel didn’t know the end of the story yet, either. When he’d left, he assumed Paul had taken Jane to the hospital. But there had been some pieces he had been able to put together again. Eva’s pieces.
“Before I left, Paul, that’s Augustine’s name. Jane’s father, assured me that the funds will be back in your account before Monday.” Daniel pulled Eva into his arms and held her. She didn’t resist, simply put her head on his shoulder. “He’s going to revise the fine print on your loan, get you a better interest rate and a less cutthroat foreclosure stipulation. Plus you won’t have to pay on the loan until September. It is the least he can do for you.”
Eva slumped against Daniel with relief. “It’s still a mess, but I can work with it. What’s going to happen to Jane? Isn’t bank fraud a federal offense?”
Daniel held her close. She felt so good. He never wanted to let her go. He didn’t want to spend another minute without her. He couldn’t imagine them spending the winter apart. “This all happened less than an hour ago, so I’m not sure.”
“My God, you poor man,” Eva said. Typical of her, even now, she wasn’t thinking of herself, but of him. Of course, he was sure she was relieved that her financial situation had been resolved, or was fast on the way to resolution.
“So what was the proof you had? That you told Jane about?”
“This.” Daniel clicked on the uncut video footage that his buddy had given him in Port Huron. Certain sections had not appeared on the internet, but they were juicy if you knew the background. He fast-forwarded and zoomed into Jane at Eva’s desk, with the time stamp clear. Just before the bank transfer had taken place. Within minutes.
“You can’t see what she’s doing.”
Blue Heaven (Blue Lake) Page 17