Deadly Summer (Darling Investigations Book 1)

by Denise Grover Swank

  “I know.” He sounded defeated, and I realized he was holding a small black bag in his hand. “You have a choice, Summer,” he whispered, but his tone sounded ominous.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Teddy’s workin’ with the sheriff as an informant—I didn’t know until about five minutes ago—but he needs this deal to go through to nail Cale.”

  The relief I felt was palpable. My cousin wasn’t a bad guy. I’d been right to believe in him. “I have to go back in there.”

  Luke grabbed my upper arms and held me in place. “No. You don’t.”

  “Yeah. I do,” I said more calmly than I felt. “I have to. For Teddy and for me.”

  “This is dangerous, Summer.”

  It was, and Teddy would do it for me. In a heartbeat. “I know.” I snatched the bag from him, then turned around and went inside.

  Cale looked furious. “Where the hell were you, Summer?”

  “I couldn’t find it. I think Dixie must have kicked it on her way out.”

  Cale reached for it, but I had no idea how this was supposed to work, so I shoved it at Teddy.

  Bill was still in the corner, his camera tucked under his arm. He looked like a statue.

  Teddy unzipped the bag and dumped the contents on the chair. Two bags full of pills landed on the seat.

  “The goin’ price is two thousand,” Teddy said.

  “Eighteen hundred with my discount for not killin’ your sister.”

  “What about my cousin?”

  Cale held his gaze. “Eighteen hundred.”

  Teddy put out his arm and pushed me behind him, but I stood to the side so I could see. “Fine. Where’s the money?”

  Cale reached into the top pocket of his shirt and pulled out a folded-over envelope that looked all too familiar. The last time I’d seen it was in a brown paper bag.

  “That doesn’t look thick enough to be carryin’ eighteen hundred dollars,” Teddy said.

  “That’s because it’s not. It’s a deposit of five hundred. I’ll get you the rest once I make a few sales.”

  He held out the envelope, and Teddy snatched it from him. “I look forward to doing business with you.”

  Cale gave Teddy a questioning look, suspicion covering his face. “No argument?”

  “I just want to make sure Summer’s safe.” Then he glanced over at Bill. “And him too. No one needs to get hurt here. We’re all adults. We know how to keep our mouths shut.”

  Cale shook his head. “You know that’ll never work. Dixie’s good at secrets. She never told a soul who sold her boyfriend those drugs, but him . . .” He turned his gun and attention on Bill. “I don’t know shit about him.”

  My heart jolted when I heard a gunshot, quickly followed by another. Everything was happening too fast for me to follow.

  Bill fell to the floor, his camera banging on the concrete. He lay sprawled on his side, not moving.

  I screamed as Teddy shoved me to the ground and then fell on top of me.

  There was movement behind us, and I realized Luke was in the room, holding a gun on Cale.

  Cale’s left arm was bleeding, but he was holding a gun on Luke.

  My heart leaped into my throat, and I felt like I was going to throw up. Oh, please let Luke be okay. I couldn’t lose him again—not like this.

  “Cale,” Luke said. His voice was calm, but I saw the tension on his face. “Just put the gun down.”

  “No. No way. If I put this gun down, it’s all over for me.” Cale pivoted and pointed the gun at me and Teddy, his arm shaking. “I’ll shoot her, Luke. I’ll empty this gun into the both of them to make sure I kill her.”

  “And you know I’ll kill you, Cale. Before you even get off the last shot.”

  A bitter smile lit up Cale’s face. “That’s a chance I’m willing to take. Are you?”

  Luke’s eyes filled with indecision.

  Bill moaned in the back corner, but Luke kept his gaze on Cale. “Why are you doin’ this, Cale? You’re a good man.”

  “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that being a good man doesn’t mean shit. And we both know we can’t make squat in this town.”

  “Then move to Birmingham. Or Atlanta. Don’t start supplying drugs to addicts.”

  Cale released a sharp laugh. “Hey, job security, right? Besides, you and I both know that addicts will get drugs no matter what. I might as well be the one makin’ money off it.”

  “And killin’ people?”

  “An unfortunate consequence.”

  “An unfortunate consequence,” Luke repeated in disgust, then straightened his arm with a new determination hardening his eyes. “Don’t make yourself another unfortunate consequence, Cale.”

  He grinned. “Funny, I was just thinking the same thing about Summer.”

  The two men held their guns on each other for two more seconds.

  Bill released another moan, and Luke said, “I’m willing to let you walk, but you can’t hurt anyone else. You just take your drugs and get the fuck out of here.”

  Triumph filled Cale’s eyes, but he looked down at the bag, then back at me. “Summer’s gonna put this back in the bag.”

  “No fucking way,” Luke grunted.

  But I was already trying to shove Teddy off me. “Let me up, Teddy.”

  “No.”

  I elbowed him hard in the stomach, then took advantage of his momentary shock to scramble out from under him.

  Luke started to protest, but I held up my hands and slowly walked toward the chair. “Let me do this and we can send Cale on his way.”

  Luke swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing, as he watched me reach for the first bag of pills. I stuffed it into the larger bag and then did the same with the second. After I zipped up the bigger bag, I held it up, facing Cale. “Is this what you want? Was this bag full of pills worth three people’s lives?”

  An ugly grin spread across his pale face. His arm was covered in blood, and a small puddle had collected on the floor beneath him. “We’re gonna take a walk to my car, and then I’ll let you go.”

  “You think I believe that?” I asked, outrage overriding my fear. “You just stood there a few minutes ago and told me I was smart.”

  “I guess that’s the chance you’ll have to take,” he said, but I could see he was starting to wobble.

  He was standing about three feet from me, his gun pointed at my chest. I knew in my gut if I went with him, he’d shoot me just to hurt Luke. He’d already killed three people and injured another. What was one more?

  I took a step toward him, holding the bag of drugs in my clenched fist. “You want this bag, Cale?” I said, as my anger continued to build. “Here’s your fucking bag!” Then I swung the bag upward, putting my whole body into the move as I aimed for his arm.

  The gun went off, and I ducked on instinct, but the ricocheting sound told me the bullet must have hit a metal beam above us. Cale lost his balance and stumbled as his gun went flying into the air.

  “Son of a bitch!” Luke yelled and rushed past me to tackle Cale to the floor.

  Seconds later, several sheriff’s deputies ran into the room with guns raised, but Luke already had Cale pinned to the ground.

  Adrenaline flowed through my veins, and I stomped closer to Cale, ignoring the hatred in his eyes. I put a hand on my hip and pointed my finger at him. “Gotcha!, you asshole.”

  Luke glanced up at me with an expression that vacillated between relief, admiration, and anger. But admiration won out, and he grinned. “Yeah, you did.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  The next morning Dixie and I were at the Darling Investigation office two hours before our call time. News had broken that I’d helped bring down a dirty Sweet Briar policeman due to my PI work, and my manager, Justin, had set me up with several morning news programs to talk about it. I had agreed as long as Dixie was allowed to sit with me. Since we already had a film crew, it was decided that they would hook their cameras up to the live f
eed and handle it themselves.

  When we walked in, the crew was already there waiting for us, with the exception of Bill and Lauren.

  Bill was currently in the Sweet Briar Hospital recovering from a gunshot wound to his chest, but thankfully the bullet hadn’t hit anything vital, and he was expected to make a full recovery.

  I hadn’t spoken to Lauren since the night before, but during all the questioning with the sheriff’s department, it had come to light that Bill had taken a lot of video of our side investigation, including the showdown in the back room of the cotton mill. Bill had left his camera running the whole time. The footage wasn’t the best, but Bill, bless his heart, had held the camera at an angle that had gotten most of Cale in the shot. Even after being shot, he’d still made sure the camera was capturing the standoff, and me taking Cale down. Surely he deserved some sort of award for that. And they had my phone as a backup recording.

  The crew started clapping as Dixie and I walked in, and someone shouted, “Thanks for pulling this show out of the shitter.”

  I grinned. “Never doubt that I fully commit to my work.” Then I looked around. “Where’s Lauren?”

  Tony grimaced. “Schapiro flew in last night. She’s got a morning meeting with him.”

  I wondered what that might be about, but I didn’t care. With all the interest over our investigation of Otto’s death and the footage—even if it was bad—of Cale’s takedown, we were guaranteed to have good enough ratings to make sure I got paid my salary, and possibly the bonus too. The farm was safe.

  “Our first interview is in less than ten minutes,” Karen said. “I thought we’d have you and Dixie sit in the client chairs.” She’d angled them so the name of our investigation company was directly behind us, even if it read backward.

  “Good idea,” I said, giving her a smile.

  She smiled back, then turned to the crew to work out a few logistics.

  I snuck a glance at Dixie while Chuck hooked up our mikes. “Are you still doin’ okay?”

  She grinned. “As good as can be expected after leavin’ my brother and cousin and friend at the mercy of a man I’d always trusted.”

  “Everyone trusted him, Dixie. Even Luke.”

  Her grin turned mischievous as she glanced at the door. “Speak of the devil.”

  Luke stood in the doorway in his police uniform, staring at me with an intensity that sucked my breath away. He and Teddy had spent most of the night with the sheriff’s deputies. Turned out Teddy had discovered Ryker was a drug dealer a couple of months before, and after the last time Dixie had gotten mixed up with a guy and drugs, he’d approached the sheriff’s department about becoming an informant to bring him down. Teddy had spoken with Otto in that alley, but only to try and convince him to help out. Otto had refused to tell him when he was making his next courier run (by then Cale had already waylaid him) and had hidden the drugs in his barn instead.

  The sheriff’s office had started suspecting there was a dirty cop in Sweet Briar, and Teddy had found out from them. Soon after, Cale had started feeding them false information about Luke, which had only made Teddy more suspicious of him. Mayor Sterling had caught wind of the rumors, which had given him a major case of buyer’s remorse about welcoming us to town with open arms. Cameras were everywhere, after all, ready to catch the slightest bit of tension, and besides, some of our “cases” had encouraged small-scale feuds. Becky MacDonald had lit Nettie Peabody’s rose bushes on fire. And as for why he’d met Ryker behind the café my first day in town—Luke had been right. Mayor Sterling said he’d been discussing a zoning issue over Ryker’s bike shop.

  Teddy still had no love for Luke, but earlier that morning, my cousin had admitted that not only was Luke clean, but it was obvious he still cared about me.

  And now Luke was here, watching me as though we were the only two people in the room. He strode toward me with purpose before he gathered me in his arms and kissed me in front of everyone.

  I kissed him back, clinging to his neck and showing him how scared I’d been over possibly losing him, and it occurred to me that he was showing me the same.

  Several people catcalled and clapped, but for once I didn’t care.

  Luke lifted his head and cupped my cheek with his hand. “I’m sorry I’m just now seein’ you. We didn’t finish until early in the mornin’, and I—”

  I reached up and gave him a soft kiss to quiet him. “It’s okay. You don’t need to explain.”

  “You have to know that I wanted to be with you, Summer, makin’ sure you were really okay. I wanted to be the one reassurin’ you.”

  “I know.”

  He breathed in as he searched my face, his hand lightly caressing my cheek. “You scared the shit out of me.”

  “You scared the shit out of me too.”

  “But it’s my job.”

  “Apparently it’s mine too.”

  He scowled at that. “At least until you finish shooting.”

  I didn’t answer.

  Dixie and I had talked about my options until early in the morning. According to Justin, this exposure was like a shot of adrenaline to my dying career.

  Staring into Luke’s warm brown eyes, I knew he deserved to know the truth. “I’ve got some possible jobs lined up for when we finish shooting next week. A movie, even. My manager says it’s like my whole career just got a reboot.”

  He tried to look excited. “That’s great. No more money problems, then, right?”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “Is that what you want, Summer?” he asked softly.

  “I need you in your chairs, ladies,” Karen said, grabbing my arm and tugging. “You’ve messed up your lipstick.”

  I let her guide me to the chair, my gaze still on Luke.

  What did I want? When was the last time someone had asked me that? When was the last time anyone had cared about the answer?

  Karen handed me a mirror, and sure enough my lipstick was smudged, but I glanced up at Luke.

  Sorry, he mouthed.

  I’m not, I mouthed back with a grin.

  Dixie handed me my lipstick tube. I quickly repaired the damage, then handed the mirror and lipstick to someone as Chuck checked our sound levels. Someone had set up a monitor next to Tony’s stationary camera, allowing Dixie and me to see the person interviewing us.

  Karen counted down, and a popular national morning host’s face appeared on the monitor. His voice came through my earpiece as he introduced our segment. The host smiled and said, “Summer, welcome to our show. You’ve had a busy week there in Sweet Briar, Alabama. Is it usually that crazy?”

  “Thanks for having us, Matt, and no, Sweet Briar is usually a calm, friendly town. I suspect that Mayor Sterling sees me as a tornado that swept into town and exposed the town’s secrets.”

  The host took on a serious expression. “You’re there to film a reality TV show with you acting as a private investigator, and yet you found yourself investigating a real case.”

  I pulled out my Southern charm and said, “Not acting as a private investigator, Matt. I am a private investigator. I even have a license to prove it.” Then I gave him a huge smile.

  “You really consider yourself a PI?” he asked in disbelief. “The only experience you have is portraying your teen character, Isabella Holmes.”

  “And taking down a dirty cop,” I said, still smiling but injecting a hint of attitude into my voice. “Along with solving three murders.”

  “She literally took him down herself,” Dixie said. “Stared down the barrel of a gun and knocked it out of his hand.”

  “All in a day’s work,” I said with a laugh as I turned to her. She winked as though to say, I’ve got your back.

  And I knew she did. Just like I had hers.

  Movement by the door caught my eye, and I realized Lauren had just walked in. She made her way over to Karen.

  The host continued. “So you’re in your hometown, filming this reality show, and suddenly your face is everywher
e. Everyone is talking about Summer Butler. What do you plan to do once you get this wrapped up? What projects do you have lined up?”

  I glanced past the camera at Luke.

  He offered me a smile of encouragement, and I knew he’d changed. He wasn’t threatened by my career. He wouldn’t like it if I left, but he wouldn’t pressure me to stay. It made my answer so much easier.

  “Well, Matt, I plan on staying right here in Sweet Briar for a while,” I said.

  Surprise washed over Luke’s face, quickly followed by joy.

  “And what will you be doing in your small hometown?” the host asked.

  Lauren held up a piece of paper, and a mixture of relief and dread washed through me. I’d revel in the first feeling and deal with the second later.

  “Why, I’ll be continuing my new career as a private investigator,” I said, then read the sign again.

  WE GOT PICKED UP FOR A SECOND SEASON.

  REAL CASES THIS TIME.

  “Darling Investigations is open for business. And who knows,” I drawled with a broad smile, “if you hire us, your case just might be on season two.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Summer Butler was born on a hot June day in 2016.

  I was looking ahead to wrapping up my Magnolia Steele series and was starting to think about a replacement. So while I was driving from Orlando, Florida, to Jacksonville, with four of my kids in the car, my developmental editor, Angela Polidoro, and I spent an hour brainstorming. We’d both agreed to think of ideas to discuss, but when she called, I had nothing. (I’d just spent two days pitching my book One Paris Summer to librarians at ALA.) But it worked out because Angela had two ideas—one, that the protagonist was a PI in a reality TV show, and the second was that the protagonist was also a former teen star. Since I’d just binged two seasons of UnReal, I was intrigued. We discussed several other ideas and ended the call with several potential plots. Since I was headed to the beach for a vacation with my kids, I told her I’d send her a synopsis soon.

  I suspect she didn’t expect one the next day.

  But once the wheels started spinning, I was dying to write them down.

  In less than a week, I had a completed, ready-to-turn-in synopsis and proposal, and thankfully Alison Dasho saw the potential Angela and I had seen and soon made an offer. Alison had been my developmental editor for several of my indie books as well as my 47North book The Curse Keepers, before she deserted me (not that I’m bitter) and took a job as an editor for Thomas & Mercer. So I was thrilled with the opportunity to work with Alison again.