Deadly Summer (Darling Investigations Book 1)

by Denise Grover Swank

  “What? He’s right. We’re about to start diggin’ deeper, and we don’t know what we’ll find. Besides, you know she’ll end up putting whatever she tells us on her page. We’ll be lucky to get a twenty-four-hour head start.”

  Dixie stabbed the food on her plate like it was Luke’s head. Or mine.

  “So just to be clear,” I said to him, holding his gaze, “we tell you what we’re doing, and you don’t interfere at all.”

  “Unless I think it’s too dangerous.”

  I wasn’t planning to rush into danger, but I suspected Luke’s threshold would be lower than ours. “We’ll decide whether to tell you on a clue-by-clue basis.”

  He didn’t look happy with that answer. “I can help you, Summer.”

  “And yet you can’t help us. See our dilemma?”

  I took his nonresponse as agreement.

  “We’ll let you watch us interview Maybelline,” I said, ignoring the death stares from my partners in crime. “That’s all I can promise.”

  He stared to answer, stopped, then said, “Fine.”

  “Good.”

  We all finished eating with little conversation, and when we were done, Dixie pushed Bill out of the way and headed back to the kitchen.

  Bill was busy avoiding Luke’s gaze.

  But I understood Bill’s hesitation, and I worried he was about to back out of the deal, especially since, according to Dixie, this had been his master plan.

  Dixie hurried back and told us that Maybelline was ready whenever we were, and Bill picked up his camera case and followed.

  “Bill doesn’t trust me,” Luke said, watching him head into the kitchen.

  “In all fairness to him, I’m having a hard time trusting you.”

  “Summer.”

  I shook my head. “Look, my distrust over this is different than his. I think he’s worried you’re gonna arrest us for investigating. I know you’re not stupid enough to face the wrath of two Baumgartner women, and there’s no telling what Teddy would do to you. My concern is that you’re setting us up to do this just to pull the rug out from underneath us. But I’m trusting you for now.”

  His mouth pursed, but he gave a slight nod. “I can live with that.”

  Rachel brought the check, and after Luke handed her some cash, we followed Bill and Dixie to the kitchen. Bill had brought two mikes, and he hooked one up on Maybelline and one on me. He told Dixie to stay close to me so he could pick her up on my mike. Five minutes later, we were filming. Luke stood behind Bill, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his broad chest.

  “Maybelline,” I said, “Dixie says you may have information about Otto.”

  “A few weeks ago, Otto was talkin’ about gettin’ a job. Said he had a friend who was gonna help him be rollin’ in money.”

  “Really?” Dixie asked. “I’ve known Otto for several years now, and I never once heard him talk about money. Or having a job.”

  Maybelline didn’t seem offended by Dixie’s contradiction. “That was the thing. He never had before, so it struck me as odd too.”

  “Did he mention how he was going to get rich? Or anything about his friend?” I asked.

  “Supposedly, his friend—who told him to keep the whole thing secret—wanted to hire Otto for some kind of courier service, and he was gonna pay him good money. I’d never seen Otto so excited . . . well, not since what happened to his family. He told me not to tell anyone, so I didn’t.” She gave Dixie an indignant look. “What? I can keep a secret.”

  Dixie’s eyebrows shot high enough to almost touch her hairline.

  Maybelline ignored her. “In any case, Otto never mentioned it again, so I figured nothing had come of it. But then last week I took out the trash, and I saw Otto by the dumpster. That didn’t necessarily mean anything—sometimes Otto would dumpster dive, and I never told no one.”

  She shot a sly grin at Dixie. “You’d be surprised by all the secrets I keep stored in my head.” She tapped her temple. “Anyway, I didn’t think much of Otto digging through the trash, but he was talkin’ to someone while he did it. More like havin’ an argument. I couldn’t tell what it was about, but I sure tried.”

  Dixie gave me a sly glance. “I bet you did.”

  “Did you know who he was talking to?”

  Her grin fell. “Teddy.”

  “My brother Teddy?” Dixie asked in disbelief.

  I shot Dixie a worried look, then turned back to Maybelline. “And you’re sure you didn’t hear what they were talking about?”

  “No, but I did hear mention of a bike. Teddy tried to hand Otto a piece of paper, but when he saw me, he said goodbye to us and took off. Otto seemed shaken up, so I asked him if everything was okay. He said yep, right as rain. I remember him sayin’ it clear as day. Then he said he needed to go think for a spell.” She sniffed and dug a tissue out of her pocket. “That’s the last thing he ever said to me.”

  “Do you remember what day this was?” I asked, trying to ignore that Dixie had gone stock-still.

  “A week ago Friday.”

  “Have you ever seen Teddy and Otto talk before?” I asked. “Even in a friendlier manner?”

  “No. Can’t say I have.”

  “And Otto never mentioned bein’ friends with Teddy?”

  “Nope. Other than Gretchen, I never heard him talk about no one other than his mystery guy. Not even those two old farts he usually hangs out with . . . I guess that should be past tense, huh?” She paused as tears filled her eyes. Then she sniffed and gave a nod. “And I saw Otto every Monday unless he was at his thinking place. Monday’s meat-loaf day, and I always gave him a meal in exchange for moppin’ my floors after closin’. Only he never came in this past Monday.”

  I could tell terrible things were racing through Dixie’s head—they were sure running through mine—but I needed to stay professional. “Is there anything else you can think of to add?”

  Maybelline shook her head. “Nope. Nothing, but I sure hope you find out what happened to Otto. He was a good man, despite what people say.”

  I waited a couple of seconds and called out “Cut.” Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Luke had his gaze pinned on me. The look in his eyes worried me, and I regretted letting him sit in on this. “Is there something else I should ask?”

  Surprise washed over his face, and he dropped his arms to his sides. “Me?”

  “You’re standin’ there watching, so I might as well utilize you.”

  “No. I can’t think of anything.”

  “Thanks.”

  I unhooked Maybelline’s mike. “We’d like to keep the fact that Luke was here a secret.”

  “Say no more, sugar. I can keep my mouth shut.”

  After we packed everything up, we went out to my truck, none of us saying anything. Dixie climbed into the driver’s seat and closed the door, and I finally broke the silence. “Just because he was talkin’ to Teddy . . .” I glanced up at Luke. “That doesn’t mean anything.”

  He watched me with solemn eyes.

  I grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the building. “Luke. You have to say something to reassure Dixie. She’s freaking out.”

  He gave me a sympathetic look. “Summer, I can’t.”

  Anger rushed through me. “You can’t or you won’t?”

  He remained silent.

  The truth hit me like a sucker punch. “Are you investigatin’ Teddy?”

  He put his hand on my shoulder. “Summer . . .”

  I jerked away from him. “You lied to me! You said you weren’t investigatin’ Otto’s death.”

  He pushed out a heavy sigh as he glanced over at the truck. “I’m not. I swear to you. Boy Wonder is handling it. But I was investigatin’ something else before all of this went down, only I had no idea Otto had anything to do with it.”

  “What is it?”

  “Drugs.”

  “But hearin’ Teddy’s name wasn’t a shock?”

  His mouth turned down.

  I
gasped, then shook my head. “No. I can’t believe Teddy has anything to do with drugs.” But Teddy had known Ryker was wrapped up in them. How would he have known that if Dixie really hadn’t known?

  “Summer, I want to tell you what’s goin’ on, but I can’t. He’s your cousin, and he’s Dixie’s brother. Do you know why Dixie broke up with Ryker?”

  I opened my mouth to tell him, then immediately clamped it shut. “I’m not telling you anything, Luke Montgomery. You totally misrepresented why you wanted to tag along, and now you’re plannin’ on usin’ what you found out against my cousin.”

  “No. Not entirely. I’m worried about you, and whatever’s going on is wrapped up in the sheriff’s investigation. You know I can’t touch that part of it. But if you keep me apprised of what you’re doin’, I can at least help keep you safe.”

  “So any information about Teddy is a bonus?”

  When he didn’t deny it, my anger ratcheted up several notches. “Stay away from me! Stay away from my family!”

  His eyes hardened. “I can’t do that, Summer.”

  “Why? Because you want to spy on me more? Well, fool me once, shame on you, but there won’t be a fool me twice.”

  I started to walk to the truck, but Luke grabbed my arm and tugged me back hard enough for my chest to hit his. He snaked an arm around my back and held me in place. “You’re still in danger, Summer Baumgartner, whether you want to believe it or not, and I aim to make sure you’re protected.”

  “From my own cousin?” I hissed, trying to break out of his grasp. “Are you insane?”

  “I suspect Teddy would sooner sacrifice himself rather than hurt you, but let’s not forget someone sent you into the woods to find Otto’s body. I don’t believe for one second that was Teddy. There’s more than one force in play here, and you need to be careful.” I tried to break free, but his hold tightened. “Summer. Will you stop fightin’ and listen to me?”

  Stop fighting? He was fooling himself if he thought I was just going to play the good girl and do what he told me. That was something I was very happy to have left behind with seventeen-year-old Summer. I’d only just begun to fight for my family, and I wasn’t about to stop.

  Luke’s arms were like bands of steel, holding me against him, and in any other situation, I probably would have melted right into him, but right now I was filled up with righteous indignation. I lifted my foot and stomped on the inside of his ankle with as much force as I could muster—which wasn’t much. I’d exerted most of my energy trying to look alert for Maybelline’s interview. But it must have been enough because Luke grunted in pain and dropped his arms.

  I leaped back as though I was on fire and said in a shaky voice, “I meant what I said. Stay away from me and my family, Luke.” Then I spun around and nearly passed out from the onslaught of dizziness. I blinked to push away the black edges of my vision and stumbled toward the passenger door of the truck.

  “Drive,” I said once I was inside.

  “What happened?” Dixie asked as she pulled away from the curb. “What did Luke say?”

  What should I tell her? She had enough troubles without knowing that Luke suspected Teddy of something. But I’d sure keep that in mind while we continued with our investigation, if for no other reason than to prove Luke wrong.

  “Nothing. Same old I’m-a-weak-woman-and-need-a-big-strong-man-to-protect-me bullshit.”

  “What did he say about Teddy?”

  “Nothing.” Which was pretty much true. But what he hadn’t said spoke volumes. “I didn’t see Bill leave.”

  “He took the equipment back to the office. He could tell that you and Luke were about to have a knock-down, drag-out fight and wanted to get far away from Ground Zero. Besides, that guy standing down the street was giving us the creeps.”

  “What guy down the street?”

  “Just some guy. He was watching you talk to Luke. He had a camera.”

  I shuddered. “Damn paparazzi. I’m surprised it’s taken ’em so long to show up, given all the crap on those gossip sites. Investigatin’ Otto’s disappearance will be next to impossible if they start following me around.” And Lord only knew how many photographs he’d snapped of me and Luke. Dammit.

  “Lauren will probably love it,” she said.

  “True. More buzz, better ratings.” I really hadn’t missed this part of the showbiz life.

  Dixie was quiet for several seconds. “Teddy would never hurt anyone.”

  “Dixie, I know that. No need to convince me.”

  “But what about Luke?”

  “If he doesn’t see the truth for the trees, then he’s an idiot. I’m sure there’s an explanation for why Teddy was talkin’ to Otto. We’ll just ask him.”

  “Yeah,” she murmured. “So what’s our plan next?”

  We needed to find out what Otto was up to before he died, and I picked the most logical place to find out.

  “Otto’s apartment.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  “We need to go there tomorrow,” I said to Dixie. “Do you think Bill’s still on board?”

  “Luke didn’t scare him off. He said he’d go with us wherever we need to go at lunch tomorrow and after we quit for the day.”

  “Thank goodness,” I said, then thought of something else. “I wonder what he’s doin’ with all the video. I was led to believe they dump it every night and the video editors go through it all the next day and pick out the usable footage.”

  “I was worried Lauren would figure it out, so I kind of asked him the same thing. He said he’s been saving our stuff to an external hard drive, but he’s worried because it takes a lot of memory. He said something about saving it on a cloud.”

  That made sense. I leaned back on the seat and closed my eyes. My head hurt from thinking too much.

  “What are y’all planning to do with this secret footage?” Dixie asked. “Are you gonna replace Lauren’s show?”

  “Not replace . . .” I hedged. “Supplement.” One more thing to worry about. But not tonight. “For now, let’s plan on going to Otto’s apartment tomorrow at lunch. I’ll call Gretchen and make sure she’s okay with us using the key we still have.”

  When we got to the farm, Teddy’s truck was parked in front of the open barn doors with its hood open. I could see Teddy working on the engine.

  I summoned the energy to get out and talk to him while Dixie went inside to check on Meemaw.

  “Don’t you dare talk about anything important until I get out there,” she whispered to me.

  I smiled but didn’t agree, hurrying as fast as I could, which wasn’t very fast. Teddy looked up when he saw me, but he didn’t stop working the wrench in his hand.

  “You should have been home and in bed a long time ago,” he said with a scowl.

  “That’s one thing you and Luke Montgomery agree upon.”

  His frown deepened as he glanced down at his engine again. “You’ve been talkin’ to Luke? I thought you two were still at odds.”

  “Yeah, well . . . I guess some things never change,” I said wistfully.

  He was silent for a few seconds before he said, “I remember that summer . . . the two of you were like fire and ice.”

  “Which one of us was ice?” I asked with an ornery grin.

  He looked up with a twinkle in his eye. “Maybe it was more like fire and fire.”

  That sounded about right. But that was part of why we worked. We had lots of peaceful moments, but the fire—in passion and in anger—was intense.

  “The thing is, when you two were gettin’ along, you were happy, Summy, but the rest of the time you were miserable.”

  “We got along until the end . . .”

  “Yeah, when the asshole couldn’t handle that the world didn’t revolve around him.”

  When I had to go back to California. “We were kids.”

  His gaze held mine. “Luke Montgomery still likes gettin’ his way. That part of him hasn’t changed one bit.”

  I coul
d see the truth in that. “Did he talk badly about me after we broke up?” I wasn’t sure why I had asked. If he had, knowing it would only hurt me.

  His mouth pursed. “No.” It looked like it pained him to admit it. “He spent a long time gettin’ over you.” He leaned over his engine again. “I’m not sure he ever did, truth be told.”

  “Well, he blew it tonight, so no worries there.”

  He was silent for a moment. “You still love him, Summer. But you’re right. You were kids, so it’s not the same.”

  Should I warn Teddy that Luke was suspicious of him? Maybe I should start this conversation off with Dixie. “Why didn’t you like Dixie dating Ryker?”

  His scowl returned, but it was much more intense and fueled by anger, as evidenced by the way he cranked his wrench. “He was a worthless asshole who treated her like shit.”

  “Why did she put up with it?”

  “Because she thinks she deserves it.” He set the wrench in his hand on a towel he had set out on the bottom of the windshield. “She thinks she was responsible for that fire, so she believes she deserves every bad thing that ever happens to her. Welcomes it, even. Guys like Ryker see that and take advantage of her.”

  “She said he broke up with her with no explanation. Did you have something to do with it?”

  “Depends on who’s askin’. You or Dixie?”

  “Me. I won’t tell her.”

  His eyes hardened. “Let’s just say we had a come-to-Jesus meetin’, and he wasn’t near enough ready to meet his maker.”

  But Ryker had met his maker anyway. Even though Teddy looked deadly right now, I still couldn’t believe my cousin would kill someone. “Luke was surprised to hear Dixie had broken up with him. He said he saw Ryker comin’ out to our farm last week.”

  “What the hell was Luke doin’ watchin’ our farm?” he asked, getting pissed. He lowered the bar holding up the hood and let it drop with a loud bang.

  “Do you think Dixie was meetin’ him in secret?”

  “No.”

  “Maybe I should ask her.”

  “Summer.” He grimaced, then said, “Ryker was meetin’ me.”

  “You? Why?”

  “It had nothin’ to do with Dixie, and that’s all you need to know.”