The Soldier's Seduction

by Jane Godman

  At the end of the call June had given her the address she had for Nancy and Tanner Spence. Although now they were driving along the main street in Leucadia, Steffi realized she didn’t need it. Her memory would have guided her to the yellow-and-black-painted shop front with its sign that read Simply Bee. To one side, there was a swinging sign shaped like a giant bee.

  “Oh, I remember now. It hasn’t changed a bit.” She turned to Bryce with a smile. “The bee wasn’t fixed on properly and it kept falling off. One time when we came to visit, it had hit a tourist on the head and he was threatening to sue.”

  “He should have just let it bee.” Bryce kept his face straight. “I can’t believe he would make much money stinging a health food store.”

  Steffi rolled her eyes. “Oh, you are so funny.”

  “Honey, I haven’t even started yet.”

  She snorted with laughter. This was how a day at the beach should be. Laughing and enjoying the sunshine and scenery. The dark undercurrents that accompanied them shouldn’t be part of their lives.

  As Bryce found a parking space alongside an odd assortment of vehicles, Steffi schooled her face back into a semblance of normality. She was going to see Greg’s parents for the first time since she had been a child. More important than that, she was going to speak to them about the man they had all loved and lost. It was important, for all their sakes, to get this right.

  Her nerves reached stratospheric levels as they walked along the sidewalk toward the store. As she stepped over the threshold into the shaded interior, the familiar aroma hit her and she couldn’t stifle the exclamation that rose to her lips. Whenever she went into a health food store, it reminded her of this place, but it was never quite right. There were some things that all similar stores had in common, but there always seemed to be a missing ingredient, or one smell would be overpowering at the expense of others.

  Now she realized that this was what she had always been searching for. In her head, this was the perfect health food store scent. This clean, malty, herbal smell with strong lavender and lemon notes. And honey. Lots of honey.

  “Oh!”

  A tall woman behind the counter turned at the sound of her voice, pausing in the act of dusting the array of glass jars that filled the pine shelves. Her long gray hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her sharp blue eyes looked exactly the way Steffi remembered.

  “Steffi? Is that you?” Nancy Spence came around from the other side of the counter with her arms outstretched.

  Steffi was drawn into an embrace that threatened to rob her of the ability to breathe. She’d forgotten that Nancy was a hugger. Steffi wasn’t really comfortable with hugs. It was like a language she didn’t speak. It never felt enjoyable because she was always wondering what she was meant to do, and how she was supposed to feel. Pull away now and risk causing offense? Keep hugging too long and come across as weird? Hand placement? Kiss or not? It was a minefield of protocols other people seemed to understand. No one told me the rules.

  “How did you know me?” Steffi asked. The last time she had seen Nancy, Steffi had been a child with waist-length auburn curls.

  “I would know you anywhere. You look just like Greg.” Nancy drew away, her expression clouding over.

  Her eyes flicked to Bryce’s face, clearly expecting an introduction, and Steffi reached for his hand. “This is Bryce Delaney.”

  As Nancy’s eyes took in their entwined fingers, she nodded without comment. “Can I get you a drink? I have some homemade lemonade in the fridge.”

  They took their drinks onto the patio at the rear of the store and sat in mismatched deck chairs. “Tanner will be home soon. He had a charter. A group of tourists who wanted to see the coastline from the ocean.” Nancy sipped her drink in silence for a few minutes before turning those bright eyes to Steffi’s face. “We’ve been expecting you. Ever since we heard that it was Anya Moretti who killed Greg, we knew you would come to see us.”

  Steffi felt sharp tears sting her eyelids. “You knew I was Anya Moretti?”

  “Greg told us. But Tanner had already guessed when we saw you together on film.” Nancy’s smile was sad. “Like I said, you look like your brother.”

  “You know I didn’t kill him?” Steffi felt the words catch in her throat as though they were scared to come out. Which, in a way, was true. Once she had spoken them, there was no going back. She had to hear the answer.

  Nancy’s brows drew together sharply. Before she could answer, a man’s voice spoke for her. “You have to ask that?”

  Tanner Spence was tall and tanned, and his bald head shone in the sunlight. He wore faded khaki shorts and a T-shirt of an indeterminate color. They could have been the ones he was wearing the last time Steffi saw him.

  Steffi swallowed hard. “I have to ask. It matters.”

  “Of course we know. Whatever happened to Greg, we know you had no part in it.” Tanner eased his long frame into one of the deck chairs. It creaked alarmingly. “What we couldn’t understand was why you went on the run.”

  “Tell them.” Bryce leaned forward and placed a hand on Steffi’s wrist. “They need to know...and you need to tell it.”

  * * *

  “More butternut squash and apple casserole, Bryce?” Nancy stood over him, holding her ladle in her hand like a weapon.

  Before today, Bryce would have scorned vegan food. He was a true son of Stillwater, a town where steak and burgers were the favorite meals on the menu at Dino’s. Tonight he had surprised himself by eating two helpings of casserole and several pieces of delicious homemade corn bread.

  He shook his head, patting his stomach regretfully. “I wish I could, but you’ve achieved what many would consider the impossible, Nancy. You’ve filled me up.”

  Tanner had poured them all a glass of his homemade wine, but after a few sips of the lethal brew, Bryce had switched to water. Although Nancy had offered them a bed for the night, he preferred to drive back to the hotel. He wanted to be in full possession of all his senses, particularly his sight, when he made the journey.

  “I wish we could help you.” Nancy’s voice was filled with regret. “But Greg never mentioned this recording to us.”

  “We don’t have much time for technology,” Tanner explained. “Neither Nancy nor I own a cell phone, and we rarely use our landline. Greg never called us. He just turned up when he wanted to see us.”

  “We wondered if he might have sent you a package just before he died,” Bryce said. “If he knew he was in danger, he could have decided to dispose of the phone by hiding it or sending it to someone he trusted. It wasn’t at Steffi’s house or his apartment, so we wondered if he sent it here.”

  “No.” Nancy shook her head. “Obviously, we would have remembered if anything had come from Greg before his death. There was nothing.”

  Bryce did his best to contain his disappointment. Although this was what he had expected, his heart sank and he avoided looking in Steffi’s direction, knowing that she would be devastated.

  “So this politician, this Walter Sullivan, he’s the one who killed our son?” Tanner asked. “And he is also the one who murdered your parents?”

  Steffi nodded. “When Greg recognized him, he confronted him and recorded the conversation.”

  “Why on earth didn’t he go straight to the police?” Nancy’s voice was incredulous.

  There it was again. The question that was the key to this whole damn case. If Greg had only taken that recording to the police, none of this would have happened. From everything Steffi had told Bryce about her brother, holding on to the recording was out of character. Yet it was the question they kept coming back to. At that pivotal moment in his life, Greg had behaved in a way that was unfamiliar. As soon as he recorded Walter’s guilt, the obvious thing to do would have been to walk into a police station. So why had he kept that recording? What h
ad he been thinking?

  Bryce’s thought process was interrupted by Steffi. “When did you last see Greg?”

  “He came down here the day before he died. I’ll always be glad we got to see him.” Nancy’s smile was sad. “Although he did seem distracted. I remember asking him if everything was okay. He said he had a lot on his mind.” She dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. “I thought he meant work.”

  Tanner laughed. “I don’t think we can flatter ourselves it was us he came to see.”

  Bryce felt a stirring of interest. “What makes you say that?”

  Tanner and Nancy exchanged an amused glance. “As soon as Bliss came home, we were just waiting for Greg to return. Her presence has always been like a magnet to him.”

  Bryce and Steffi jerked upright in unison. He could see out of the corner of his eye that Steffi’s expression of shock perfectly reflected his own feelings. “Bliss?”

  “Bliss Burton,” Nancy said, regarding their reaction with surprise. “She and Greg had been sweethearts since high school. They were inseparable until about a year ago. I don’t know what happened, but when they broke up, Bliss went away. She’s a nurse, and she was doing relief work in Africa.”

  “This was the first time she had returned home,” Tanner said. “But we knew—just knew—that as soon as she did get back, Greg would be here. There was too much history between them.”

  “Have you seen Bliss since Greg was murdered?” Bryce asked.

  “No. I called around at her apartment a few days after he died. I knew it would hit her just as hard as any of us. She loved him. But she wasn’t there. Her neighbor told me Bliss was due to go back to Africa the day Greg died. Even though she probably heard it on the news, I got the neighbor to give me the address of the place where she works out in Nigeria. I wrote a letter, but she didn’t reply,” Nancy said. “I expect it was too painful.”

  “I don’t suppose you have any pictures of Bliss?” Bryce managed to keep his voice relaxed, even though tension was beginning to coil through him. Could this be it? The breakthrough they had been waiting for?

  “We have plenty.” Nancy’s laughter was tinged with sadness. “When Greg was younger, we used to say the only way we could pry the two of them apart was with one of the oars from Tanner’s old rowboat.”

  While Nancy went inside to search for a picture, Tanner looked from Bryce to Steffi with a bemused expression. “What’s going on?”

  “The night before he died, Greg sent me a message. It was just one word. Bliss,” Steffi said. “There were also four digits. Two-seven-one-three.”

  Tanner’s whole body jerked as though in reflex to a sudden pain. “Nancy’s birthday is June 27 and mine is January 13. Greg always used those numbers as his password.”

  “We haven’t been able to figure out what the message meant until now.” Bryce drew a deep breath. “Maybe the message was sent to Steffi by mistake. Possibly Greg intended to send it to Bliss herself. Or maybe it was the clue we’ve been looking for. Perhaps he gave the missing cell phone to Bliss.”

  “You think the cell phone you’re looking for could be in Nigeria?” Tanner’s tone was incredulous.

  Bryce laughed. “I’m hoping it’s a little closer to home. Hopefully in Bliss’s apartment.”

  Nancy emerged from the house carrying a carved wooden trinket box. She cleared a space on the food-laden table and placed the box in the middle, opening it as if it was some sort of ritual. Which it clearly was, Bryce decided as he observed her face when she shuffled through the photographs and mementos it contained. He felt bad for intruding on their grief, but a horrible certainty was beginning to gnaw at his gut. He could see it in Steffi’s face, as well. She had pushed her dark glasses up onto her head, and her eyes were strained, her face pale as she watched Nancy.

  “This is a good one. It was taken at the beach a few years ago.” Nancy held out the picture and they saw a laughing Greg with his arm around a slender girl. She was pushing the strands of her hair out of her face. It was hair that drew the eyes as it curled wildly in brilliant gold corkscrews. “Although I don’t know why you would want to see her picture when she’s all the way across the other side of the world.”

  As she spoke, realization hit her and she raised a hand to her mouth. Tanner rose and placed an arm around her shoulders as the picture fluttered to the floor. “You think Bliss is the girl who was killed with Greg, don’t you?”

  Bryce stooped to retrieve the picture. “I hope I’m wrong, I really do. But it’s a possibility.”

  * * *

  Steffi felt the knot of tension in her stomach growing tighter as she studied the picture of Greg and Bliss. They looked so relaxed and happy. So in love. There was no doubt in her mind that the person in this picture was the one she had seen in Greg’s apartment. Although she had only glimpsed her briefly and she hadn’t seen her face, that mane of hair was unmistakable. Together with the message Greg had sent before his death, it seemed to be conclusive.

  This picture added another piece to the mystery of what had happened just before her brother was murdered. It looked like Greg had canceled his plans with Steffi so he could spend a few precious hours with Bliss, who had been leaving for Africa the next day. When Walter’s killer had arrived at Greg’s apartment, he had found them together and murdered Bliss, as well.

  “No one has been looking for Bliss.” Steffi murmured the words as she ran her fingertip sadly over the picture. She remembered the suitcases that had been in the hall of Greg’s apartment. Steffi had almost fallen over them in her panic as she ran out the door. They must have belonged to Bliss. Probably she was planning to go straight from Greg’s apartment to the airport. “She is supposed to be in Africa.”

  Nancy nodded, tears brightening her eyes. “Her parents are both dead and I don’t think she has any other close family.”

  “What about her employer in Nigeria? Surely they would have been concerned when she didn’t turn up?” Tanner asked.

  “They probably tried to get in touch with Bliss herself,” Bryce said. “But it’s a lot to ask that anyone would make the connection with a missing person here in America. Clearly no one did.”

  “We need to go to her apartment.” Steffi got to her feet, turning to Bryce. “That’s where Greg’s cell phone will be. I’m sure of it.”

  “Okay.” He held out his hand to Nancy and then Tanner. “Thank you for everything.”

  Nancy glanced nervously at them as she reached into the pocket of her apron. Withdrawing a pen and a slip of paper, she scribbled down the address to Bliss’s apartment. “You will be careful, won’t you?”

  Bryce grinned as he tucked the address into his shirt pocket. The expression made Steffi’s stomach flip over. How did he do that? Right in the middle of the most stressful time of her life, he could make her feel safe, happy and turned on...just with a smile.

  “I may not be careful, but I will be successful.” Coming from Bryce’s lips, the words didn’t sound arrogant. It was a promise, not a boast.

  Steffi held the picture out to Nancy, but the other woman shook her head. “Keep it as a reminder of what this is about. Do this for them. Both of them.”

  She held out her arms to Steffi, folding her into a hug. This time Steffi returned the embrace with real warmth. Physical contact wasn’t usually her thing. It never had been. Back in preschool other girls were always hand-holding or playing with each other’s hair. In middle school they had progressed to linking arms and hugging, while Steffi stood to one side and watched, wanting to understand how to be part of it, but not knowing where to begin. All day-to-day touches had always caused her intense discomfort. If she couldn’t escape the contact, she would freeze inside, embarrassed and unyielding until she could get it over with.

  Shy. That was how June used to explain it to other people. Steffi had known what she really
meant. Damaged.

  Now she was instantly soothed and grounded. The fear and anger didn’t go away, but those emotions temporarily took a back seat. Nancy pressed her cheek against Steffi’s so only she could hear. “I remember how uncomfortable you were with hugs when you were a child. Learning to relax can be incredibly hard, especially for someone whose trust has been broken.”

  The words brought the sting of tears to Steffi’s eyes. There was acceptance and understanding in Nancy’s voice. For the first time ever, Steffi felt like it was okay to stop fighting. I can accept who I am. The scars and the damage are part of me, but I’m still okay. She drew back and looked into Nancy’s smiling blue eyes. It was such an inconvenient time to have a lightbulb moment.

  “Come back and see me when this is over,” Nancy said. “I want to know you put it right for him.” Her eyes flickered from Steffi’s face to Bryce. “I want to hear all of it.”

  They made their way inside. The shop was in darkness and Nancy was just about to reach for the light switch when Bryce placed his hand on her arm. Pointing to the front window, he indicated a figure on the sidewalk outside. With a sinking heart, Steffi followed the direction of his finger. As he paced up and down, the man outside was in silhouette against the streetlight, but that bulky outline was unmistakable. It was Erik.

  “Is there another way out?” Bryce whispered.

  “Yes.” Tanner kept his own voice low. “Out the back, where we just ate dinner. You’ll have to climb the wall, and it’s quite a drop on the other side, but you can get out that way.”

  “Are you okay with that?” Bryce asked Steffi. “Will your ankle take it?”

  She nodded. “It’s almost healed and I’d rather take my chances with a wall than with the biggest of Walter’s bully boys.”