by Jill Sanders
“Agreed, tell the men.” He nodded and rested his head back.
“This one might need stitches.” Sara had been trying to convince him to head into the clinic and have her uncle Aaron look at him.
“It’ll be fine. Just put some of those butterfly bandages on it.”
She sighed heavily, then narrowed her eyes at him.
“Listen, I’m fine, really.” He took her hand. “A little bruised and cut, but I’ll be fine.” He was just thankful it had been him instead of one of his crew. Some of the men were on the older side and could have easily broken bones in the fall.
“Fine.” Sara set down the gauze and crossed her arms over her chest. He reached over to touch her hand and hissed when his skin broke open. She glared at him and got up to leave. Without a word, she stormed through the plastic.
“She’s pissed at you,” Donny said, chuckling softly.
“She’ll get over it.” He stood up and held in another hiss when his hip screamed at him. “I want to know who’s messing with our stuff.”
“The ladders were locked with all the other stuff, right?” Donny asked.
Parker thought about it. “This one was leaning against that wall. That’s why I used it, because it was there.” He thought about it for a moment. “Why don’t you clean this up? I’m going to see if Sara has something I can take for the pain.”
“Sure thing, we’ll close up.” He looked down at the broken light. “I can pick up another light tomorrow until you order a new one of these.”
There were to be two of the massive chandeliers in the place and he was wondering if glass was the best option at this point. What if it had fallen on a customer? He nodded, then stopped. “Hold off. I think we need to reevaluate hanging that much glass over customers’ heads.”
“Sure thing, boss.” Donny saluted him. “Go make things right with your lady.”
He would have laughed at Donny, but he was in too much pain. Instead, he focused on how someone could have gotten to the ladder as he headed back to Sara’s office.
When he knocked on the door, he heard her get off the phone with someone before calling for him to come in.
“Any chance I can look at the footage from the back area?” he asked, sitting down gently on the sofa. He tried to keep the pain out of his eyes, but Sara was watching him closely and he knew she noticed it.
She flipped around her laptop and held it out for him.
He held in a groan as he reached across to take it from her. He was pretty sure she had done it on purpose to test him because her eyes narrowed when he hissed under his breath.
“What are you looking for?” she asked when he settled back to open the app.
“Someone tampered with the ladder. I’m looking to see if I can tell who did it.”
She remained silent as he watched the screen.
The ladder had been sitting against the wall when they’d flicked the lights on that morning. So he went back to yesterday’s footage and ran through it. He hadn’t been there Sunday. He watched Donny carry the ladder in from the front area first thing in the morning. No one used it all day, but just before the lights flickered off for the night, a hooded figure walked into the blocked off area and move over to the ladder. The figure stood there for a few minutes. It appeared that they were sawing the bolts down with a hacksaw. The person never looked up and the hood hid their face completely from the cameras. He flipped through all the other angles, but not once did they capture an image of the face.
“It’s a man,” Sara said. She had moved to stand behind him and looked over his shoulder.
“Yeah, it would appear so.”
“It wasn’t your mother.” She sounded as disappointed as he felt.
“Nope.” He sighed.
16
Sara tried to act innocent when her uncle stepped into the office with a black medical bag.
“Hi.” Aaron looked between them. “Is this my patient?”
Parker glared over at her.
“Yes,” she said, throwing her chin up in challenge. “He seems to be suffering from a bruised pride and male stupidity.” She heard both men chuckle as she glided past Parker and left the men alone in her office, knowing that her uncle wouldn’t let Parker leave without at least taking a look at his cuts.
She helped the evening crew prepare for the dinner rush and made a mental note to keep an eye out for anyone fitting the description of the person on the video.
When she went back to her office, Parker and her uncle were gone. In her trash bin were his old bandages so at least she knew Aaron had patched him up better than she had.
Let him be mad at her for calling her uncle, she thought as she filled in for one of the waitstaff that night. At least she knew he’d been taken care of.
She smiled and was cordial to everyone, but in the back of her mind was the horror of what could have happened to Parker. Falling from a ten-foot ladder could have been deadly.
She couldn’t wait for him to pick her up that night so she could assess the damage on the rest of him. He had been limping slightly when he’d come into her office, and she wondered if he’d banged his knee. Had Aaron looked at it?
She was heading to the back with a tray of dirty dishes when she noticed the flap on the plastic that blocked off the construction zone was open. There was a zipper that, during the evenings, was closed completely so guests didn’t wander in there.
Setting the tray down, she stepped into the area.
It was a lot darker in here now that the sun had set, and not all of the lights had been installed. She blinked a few times to let her eyes adjust. Moving quietly, she tiptoed further into the area.
She couldn’t see anything yet and wondered if she should turn on her phone’s light to catch whoever it was that had snuck back here. She was sure it was the person messing with things.
She was almost to the middle of the room when she was shoved from behind, hard.
Reaching out, she tried to catch herself before falling and grabbed a workbench, toppling over the heavy tools that lay on it. She hit the ground on both knees and cried out with pain when a piece of glass from the broken chandelier ripped through her slacks.
When she glanced around, she saw someone rush through the opening and head towards the front door.
Once again, the figure was too big to be Parker’s mother.
Sitting on the floor for a moment, she hissed at the cut and flipped on her phone light. The piece of glass wasn’t big, but the cut looked nasty enough that she wanted to clean it out quickly.
Hobbling back out of the area, she turned and zipped the area closed again with her good hand. She didn’t bother with carrying her tray as she made her way back to her office.
“What happened?” Connie rushed over to help her by throwing Sara’s arm around her shoulders and taking most of her weight.
“I slipped and fell on some of that glass. I guess they didn’t clean it all up from earlier.”
“Why where you back there?” Connie asked, helping her open her office door.
“I thought I saw someone…” She shook her head. “Never mind. Could you hand me the kit?” She nodded to the first aid kit she’d used on Parker earlier.
Connie brought it over and sat next to her. “Here, let me.” She started cleaning the cut. “There’s still glass in here.”
“There should be tweezers.” She rummaged through the box. “Here.” She handed them over to her.
“Are you sure you want me to do this?” Connie asked nervously as she took them from her.
“Your hands are probably a lot steadier than mine at the moment.”
Connie nodded slowly. “Okay, here goes.” She took a deep breath and started, but when Sara hissed in pain, she stopped quickly. Glancing between Sara and her hand, she relaxed slightly and started again as she talked.
“You don’t think it was Colin, do you?” Connie asked, biting her bottom lip as she worked.
Sara thought about it as Connie dug
out the glass shards carefully.
“No, the man’s build was different.”
“Got it,” Connie said, holding up the small piece of glass.
“Thanks.” She smiled.
“I’ll clean it out now, then I think all you need is a bandage,” Connie added.
“Yeah.” Sara leaned back and thought she must look like a mess now, her slacks torn, her knees bloody. “And a new pair of slacks.” She thought about how she would hide this from Parker. She didn’t want him to worry. Then she realized that that is what had probably been going through his mind earlier in the day and she felt a little guilty.
After Connie left her office, she pulled out her laptop and checked the footage. Watching herself walk through the plastic was like watching a horror movie you’ve seen a million times.
She noticed the dark figure step into the opening about two minutes before she walked by. Switching over to the other camera angle, she saw him pick up a hammer from the workbench and move towards the newly tiled fireplace. The person appeared to be debating using the hammer on the new work, when they turned their head as if listening for something. Quickly, they moved off to a dark corner. Switching back to the other screen, she saw herself walk by and, upon seeing the opening, set her tray down.
“No, don’t go in,” she said half-heartedly to her image. But she stepped through the opening and moved further into the room.
Watching the dark figure rush over to her and give her a shove caused her to wince all over again. What she hadn’t noticed the first time was that they had thrown the hammer down as they left the area. They could have easily knocked her over the head with the thing. They had chosen to simply push her down, and for that, she was grateful.
Quickly switching angles, she saw the person run out of the building and move out of the sight of the parking lot camera. No view of a car or vehicle, no face shot of any kind. Whoever it had been, they obviously knew about the cameras and where each one was. Which either meant they hadn’t done a good job hiding them, or the person had at one point thoroughly checked the place out.
Settling back in the chair, she started looking over every second of footage since the day they had installed the cameras.
She didn’t move for almost two whole hours. Her neck and back screamed at her from sitting in the same spot for so long. When she did finally move, she reached for the bottle of aspirin Iian kept in the top drawer.
Walking out to the kitchen, she poured herself a soda and grabbed a basket of fries before heading back into the office.
The place had quieted down and the staff were currently on clean-up mode. She chatted with Connie and Liz and made sure Valerie would lock up when she left.
“Burning the midnight oil?” Valerie asked on her way out.
“Yeah.” She smiled and waved.
“I’ll lock everything up tight. If you need anything…”
“Thanks,” she said, not looking up from the screen again.
Sara had gone through most of the footage in fast-forward. Seeing faces she knew buzz by the screen and sit down to eat and drink in fast motion was almost like watching a soap opera. It could easily become addictive. Several times she had to rewind and watch in slow motion as people she didn’t know went by.
Every time Parker entered the screen, she tried to keep her mind focused on finding the culprit instead of looking at the sexy man move. Even in fast-forward, the guy was hot as hell.
She watched the work move quickly and was impressed at how much they could do in a single day. Ladders were brought in, ceilings were torn out, electricity wired, lights hung, slat board stacked along the back wall. She knew they would be hung up in the next few days, after the lights were finished.
She slowed it down and watched Parker climb the ladder. Once again, her mind screamed for something to change. Instead, she watched the ladder wobble and cringed as he took a dive off the thing.
It really was impressive that he’d walked away.
Which reminded her, he was probably worried about her. Glancing down at her watch, she gasped at the time. It was a quarter past one in the morning. Then she noticed the missed call and punched the call button. Since she was planning on staying at her place that night, she’d convinced him that she could get there on her own. He’d reluctantly agreed.
“Hey,” Parker answered, sounding tired. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” She stretched her arms over her head and realized how stiff she was. Remembering the cuts on her knees and the desire for clean clothes, she added, “I’m heading home. I’ve got to grab some fresh clothes and I have to deal with breakfast for some B&B guests, since my folks left on a trip up the coast to visit some friends of the family.”
“Okay,” he said, and she heard Toby whine in the background. “We’ll miss you. Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“Yes.” She smiled. “Don’t let Toby get too comfortable sleeping in my spot on the bed.”
“He won’t. We’ll both miss you.”
“Night.” She sighed.
“Night.”
After hanging up, she shut her laptop down and locked it away, then grabbed some fruit and a slice of chocolate pie to take home with her before locking up.
She kept her eyes and ears open as she made her way towards her Jeep, making sure to lock the Jeep door the second she closed it.
The engine purred to life and she slapped on her seatbelt and slowly made her way towards her little cabin. Since it was past midnight, there wasn’t another car on the road.
She knew in a couple hours, the fishermen would be up, heading out towards open waters, along with the Coast Guard employees and trainees, who would be going out for training exercises. Shortly after, parents would be dropping kids off at school before heading to work. By then, the little town of Pride would be so busy, you couldn’t help but run into someone you knew anywhere you went.
She parked her Jeep in front of the sign her father had made for the bed and breakfast and carried her food carefully as she made her way down the pathway.
There were renters in a couple of the cabins for the week, so she was careful to remain quiet as she went. It wouldn’t do to have customers complain about someone stomping around at one in the morning.
Carefully setting down her pie container, she unlocked the door and was just reaching inside to turn on the light, when the door jerked open. She let out a loud scream and fell backwards, landing hard on her butt. For the second time that day, a dark figure pushed past her.
This time, however, she was a lot quicker. Seeing an opportunity, she grabbed the dark figure’s legs, sending her assailant falling headfirst down the short stairs of the deck.
Parker jolted awake when his phone shrilled. He’d taken another aspirin after a hot shower to try and soothe the throbbing in his knee and hip from the fall.
Glancing at the time, he instantly worried. He’d talked with Sara less than half an hour ago. Seeing her face on his screen now had him sitting straight up.
“Are you okay?” he answered.
“I’m fine, but I think you’d better get over here.” Sara sounded worried.
“But you’re okay?” he asked again.
“Yes, I’m fine,” she reassured him. “Robert’s on his way, so is Aaron.” He heard a muffled sound. “Scratch that, Aaron and Lacey are both here. I… have to go. Come over.” She hung up quickly, giving him no other information.
He pulled on his jeans and boots quickly, then tossed on a shirt and grabbed a jacket.
“Be good,” he warned Toby as he rushed out the door.
When he drove up to the parking area, there were three cop cars parked by Sara’s Jeep, all with their lights on. His heart rate spiked, and he sprinted down the pathway, holding his breath until the cabin came into view.
His eyes were glued to Sara, standing on the front porch. He didn’t even register the people around her. She had a cut in her slacks and he could see a white bandage under the opening.
He
rushed past the police officers standing around and didn’t stop until Sara was wrapped in his arms. “Are you okay?” he asked, feeling his arms shake as he held her.
“Yes.” She sighed into his chest. “I’m fine.”
He pulled back and ran his eyes over her again. “What happened?” he asked, finally scanning around the area. He stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed who was sitting in one of the chairs on the front porch. “What’s she doing here?” he asked, dropping his arms from Sara and moving until Sara was safely hidden behind him.
“Your mother—”
“I didn’t do anything,” his mother broke in. Her chin rose and that’s when he noticed the blood dripping from her face. She had nasty cuts and scrapes along the underside of her chin and on her arms and hands.
Sara’s uncle, Aaron was currently cleaning the wounds on her hands.
“Your mother,” Sara started again, “broke into my place. Trashed it.” She nodded towards the open door.
From where he stood, Parker could see the mess. Anger filled him so much that he shook from it.
“Did she hurt you?” He nodded to her knees.
“No.” She glanced down. “I did that at work. I’m fine, really.”
“Your mother might have a slight concussion. I’d like to take her in for X-rays before…”
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I was just walking up the path when that girl of yours knocked me down.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. From the way she was slurring her words, he knew that she was drunk. He glanced at Sara.
“I was just telling Robert that I unlocked my door and she came rushing out, knocked me on my butt. When she darted past me, I grabbed her leg.” She nodded to the stairs. “She fell down them and landed face first. She was unconscious until Aaron and Lacey showed up.”
It was then that he noticed Sara’s aunt standing behind Sara.
“She was lying at the foot of the stairs when we arrived.” Lacey stepped forward. “As if she’d just fallen down them.”