Heart of the Storm

by Nicole Stiling

  “No.”

  “You kept detailed logs of Rich’s blood pressure and chest pain and the medications and doses that he was on. Would he have been able to answer his doctor’s questions if you weren’t with him?”

  “No,” Gretchen admitted, looking down at the floor.

  “Sometimes you just fall into the things you’re good at, or that you enjoy. A lot of people find bill paying and that kind of organization relaxing. I’m not one of them, mind you, but a lot of people are.” Sienna gave Gretchen a light nudge with her shoulder.

  “Are you going to that benefit thing tomorrow night? One of Rich’s buddies at the fire department in Salt Creek asked if I’d be okay with him honoring Rich. He did a lot of volunteer work with them in his younger days,” Gretchen said.

  “I wasn’t planning on it,” Sienna said. “I have a lot going on right now, so I’m not really in the mood to be social.”

  “I’d like to go. But I want to be able to leave if I want to. I don’t know if it’ll bother me too much to be a part of it. A few friends from my knitting group will be there, but I feel distant from them. Since Rich died, I haven’t really reached out to anyone. Monique said she’d go, but once she has a drink or two in her, there’s no getting her out of anywhere.” Gretchen checked her watch. “Speaking of Monique, she should be back anytime now.”

  Sienna could read the writing on the wall. She didn’t want to go to the event, but she didn’t want to let Gretchen down either. Getting out of the house for a night could be a positive thing for her, especially if some of her friends would be there. While it wasn’t in the realm of her job description, it would probably be the right thing to do. Besides, she didn’t want Gretchen to regret missing a memorial for Richard. “Would you like me to go with you?”

  “I would, but I don’t want you to go if you don’t want to.”

  “No, it’s totally fine. I’m sure a night out would do me some good too. Do you want to go in the wheelchair, or do you think you can manage with the walker? Your physical therapist said it’s really up to you at this point, however you feel most comfortable.”

  “I’d like to try the walker,” Gretchen said. She stretched out her legs. “The physical therapist said I have to use it or lose it. I told him to mind his own friggin’ business,” she said and then chuckled.

  Monique breezed into the living room from the kitchen where she must have come in through the side door. “Are you two talking about that benefit thing tomorrow night?” She fluffed her bangs with her fingers and raised her eyebrows at Sienna.

  “Yes. Your mom would like to go.”

  “That’s fine, I’ll take her.”

  Gretchen shook her head. “Sienna said she’ll come too. I’d like her to, just in case it becomes too much.”

  Monique rolled her eyes. “You do know she’s not your therapist, right? Or your doctor? I’m still trying to figure out exactly what she is, but I know it’s not either of those things.”

  Sienna fumed silently. It wouldn’t do her or Gretchen any good to get into a fight with Monique about her role in Gretchen’s life. When she’d trained for her first job as a victim advocate in Western Massachusetts, her mentor had instilled that above all, their job was to help people in need. The job description was just semantics; if they could help a child feel less afraid in court by putting on a stuffed animal puppet show, then they should damn well do it. Sienna had always taken that to heart. She couldn’t count how many trips she’d made to the grocery store, or how many games of checkers she’d played, or how many hands she’d held while tears were falling. But she’d helped people. And she was proud of that.

  “I don’t care what she’s supposed to be,” Gretchen said, waving her hand in Monique’s direction. “She’s my friend.”

  * * *

  Going home presented a new set of issues. Sienna was equal parts excited and terrified to see Juliet. She still hadn’t seen her after what had happened the night before. By the time she got up, Juliet was already gone. Based on Will’s conversation with Declan, Juliet’s roof would be ready in just a few more days. Sienna had felt like she was watching them through a haze of unreality. Declan had been eating a bowl of cereal and Will had been riffling through the junk drawer looking for a phone charger. Everything was normal. Except that really, nothing was normal.

  Juliet’s SUV was parked in the driveway when Sienna got home. She felt her stomach flip as she saw her through the windowpane, sitting on the couch thumbing through a magazine. She was wearing a tank top and skinny jeans and her hair fell loosely around her face. Sienna wondered how she’d never noticed just how sexy Juliet was before that baseball camp drive.

  “Hey,” she said, dropping her bag and keys on the table near the door. She could hear Declan up in his room and it didn’t look like Will was home yet.

  “Hey.” Juliet looked up at her, and Sienna noticed the tiniest spark of light in her eyes. It made her stomach jump again.

  “Hey.” Declan bounded down the stairs two at a time. “What’s for dinner?”

  Sienna opened the fridge, which was sorely lacking. They hadn’t been shopping in a while. “I could make spaghetti?”

  “No,” Juliet said, jumping up. “You don’t have to cook, I’ll make something.”

  “Great,” Declan said. He clapped sarcastically.

  “Don’t you have homework? Study group? Sarcasm practice?” Juliet asked, flipping his baseball cap off of his head.

  “Nope. I’m here for your entertainment all night long. Can we just get a pizza?” He gave Juliet puppy dog eyes and then turned them to Sienna. “We just went through a tornado and my dad is living in the pool house and I deserve a pizza.”

  “Really, Dec? We’re going with that?” Sienna laughed. She thrust a menu from the counter at him. “Call it in.”

  Declan smiled gleefully and walked into the other room with the menu. Juliet smiled and raised her eyebrows in Sienna’s direction.

  “You’re such a softie.”

  “What can I say? He knows how to manipulate me,” Sienna said, shrugging. “When he was eight or nine, he’d throw his arms around my neck and tell me that he’d have nightmares if we made him eat cauliflower. That was always Will’s go-to vegetable, so I used to load Dec’s plate with rice or mashed potatoes so Will wouldn’t notice the lack of cauliflower. It worked.”

  Juliet shook her head. “He loves you, you know. A lot,” she said quietly.

  “I love him, too.”

  “I know you do.” They both looked away, focusing on anything but each other. Juliet yelled to Declan at the exact moment Sienna was about to suffocate from the silence surrounding them. “Get me a Hawaiian!”

  “Gross.” Sienna crinkled her nose. “Did you hear about the benefit thing that the Salt Creek FD is putting on tomorrow night?”

  “Yep. I have to go. The chief is making us.” Juliet chuckled. “That’s super nice of them to do that for us.”

  Of course, Juliet would be there. “I have to go, too. Gretchen asked if I’d go with her. They plan on saying a few words about Rich. I didn’t want to say no.”

  “That Charlie Goodman tip was actually a good lead,” Juliet said, unscrewing the cap off of a Michelob Ultra. “Shady dude. I don’t know why Kowalski would have gotten into business with him in the first place and I can understand why Gretchen isn’t a fan. Goodman mentioned something about a new business contact that Kowalski didn’t like. Supposedly, that’s why he left Goodman’s garage altogether. Can you see if she knows anything about him? Morris Bright, I think.”

  “Sure, I’ll mention it to her. See if she knows anything else. She’s so petrified that the case will be closed as a suicide. She’s hell-bent on getting justice for him, which I understand. It gives her something to hold on to as well. The anger and the frustration are a lot easier to deal with than the grief,” Sienna said.

  “I’m confident it wasn’t suicide.” Juliet sat at the kitchen table, playing with the label on her bottle. “
I’m just afraid that I botched my first murder investigation. I mean, shouldn’t we have solved this by now? The chief said that we’re following all the procedures and protocols, but Rich was a good guy and I want to do right by him. And I’m scared that I’m not.”

  Sienna sat across from her and straightened out the placemat. “I’m sure you haven’t botched anything, Juliet. It’s not like there are tons of leads or really anything that makes sense about this. Richard seemed like a man who lived his life on the up-and-up, and I don’t think anything has come out to contradict that. Without a ‘why,’ it makes it a whole lot harder to figure out who would have done this.”

  Juliet nodded. “I’ve watched weeks’ worth of security footage, and there’s nothing that stands out. Mostly kids. I really wish the camera view extended to the damn mystery section. Would certainly make it easier.”

  “You’ll figure this out. I know how hard you’re working on it, and somewhere, I’m sure Richard does too,” Sienna said. She checked the time and stood to get her wallet out of her purse. The pizza would be arriving soon. She placed her hand on Juliet’s shoulder and squeezed lightly. “You’re doing right by him, I promise.”

  Juliet reached up and clasped Sienna’s hand tightly in her own. She brought it down and brushed her lips against Sienna’s knuckles. The softness of her mouth made Sienna weak-kneed.

  “Thank you,” Juliet said.

  Sienna swallowed hard as Juliet slowly let her hand go. We’re just friends. Just friends. She quickly took a few bills out of her wallet and left them on the table for Declan to pay the delivery person. She told Juliet she had to go respond to a few work emails before the food got there, which was a lie, but she had to get out of that kitchen for a minute. Being in Juliet’s airspace was proving harder and harder as time went on.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Morris Bright didn’t exist. At least not the one that Charlie Goodman had been referring to. Juliet looked through hit after hit in her database, all the way to California and back, and there wasn’t anyone who fit the person Goodman had been describing. She’d hoped that would be enough for a warrant, but Quinlan had shot her down. There wasn’t enough probable cause; it could have been a nickname, Goodman may have botched the pronunciation, that kind of thing. They were going to need to take another trip out to his garage. Maybe they wouldn’t be as nice this time.

  Celeste walked into her office and dropped a box of pastries on her desk. “Here, have a Danish. Also, Kellie is here to see you.”

  “Why?”

  Celeste shrugged. “You’re the lieutenant and she’s a medical examiner, so I assume she has something to discuss with you? Or maybe she’s here for a little physical, fleeting action? Hard to tell.”

  “Ugh, get out of here. Take the box with you. Wait, leave me a chocolate croissant,” Juliet said. She looked up as Kellie walked through the door with a manila folder.

  “Morning, Lieutenant Mitchell.” Kellie greeted her with a sweet smile. They always used their professional titles in public, even when it was just the two of them. It was mostly a type of foreplay, but Juliet wasn’t feeling it that morning.

  “Good morning, Kellie. What can I do for you?”

  “No, no, it’s more what I can do for you.” Kellie wiggled her eyebrow. “But in all seriousness, I have the official results from the Kowalski case. It was as we expected, methemoglobinemia is the cause of death. There were no signs of a struggle, or anything that would allude to one, so it’s unlikely that he was physically forced to take the pills. Wish I had more answers for you.”

  “Thanks, Kel. Me too.”

  “Are you going to that benefit thing tonight? I heard some of the guys in my office talking about it, but I’m on the fence.”

  Juliet nodded. “Yeah, we’re all going. All town officials need to show up as a sign of solidarity. You know, so no one feels like they’re alone in this.”

  “Makes sense. I might swing by, I’ll have to see,” Kellie said. “Maybe if you’re free after we can hang out.” Her smile made her meaning clear.

  Celeste poked her head into the office again. “Juliet, the victim advocate is here to see you as well. You’re a popular woman today.” She widened the door so Juliet could see Sienna standing behind her.

  “We’re just about finished here, anyway,” Juliet said, her pulse quickening at the sight of Sienna, and a weird sensation of being caught with her hand in the cookie jar running through her.

  “I have to head over to the city in a few minutes,” Kellie said. She gave Juliet one last private smile before turning to leave. “Maybe I’ll see you later.”

  Juliet gave her a tight-lipped smile and nodded.

  Sienna turned to watch Kellie leave, before whipping back around toward Juliet. “Did she just make eyes at you?”

  Juliet blushed. “No.”

  “Uh, she absolutely did.”

  “Maybe…I don’t know. We’ve gone on a few dates, so I guess…” Juliet trailed off, feeling more than a little awkward.

  “Thought so.” Sienna smirked

  “Why, you jealous?” Juliet asked, leaning back in her chair.

  “Yes.”

  Juliet’s stomach dropped at Sienna’s directness. She didn’t know what to say and words failed her entirely.

  Sienna seemed to pick up on that. She closed Juliet’s door lightly and sat across from her. She straightened her hair with her hand while Juliet watched her with fascination. She seemed so put together and so undone at the same time.

  “Did you ask Gretchen about Morris Bright, by chance?” Juliet asked, focusing too hard on the pencil cup on her desk.

  “I did. The name didn’t mean anything to her. She said she’d think on it, but she couldn’t remember ever hearing about him.”

  “Okay. Thank you. It’s like searching for a ghost.”

  Sienna apparently wanted to cut right to the chase. “You snuck out early this morning. And yesterday. I hope you don’t feel too uncomfortable at the house. According to Declan, you’re not exactly a morning person.”

  Truth. “I just figured I should get an early start. And if we’re being totally honest, it could be a little problematic, being a part of your morning routine, while things are so tense between us.”

  Sienna sighed. “Which brings me to my next point. It’s complicated, which I realize is an understatement, but I thought maybe I should,” Sienna paused, clearing her throat, “apologize. For the other night. What happened was—”

  “Why are you apologizing? I kissed you, not the other way around. And I’m not apologizing for it. It was real, it was honest, and to be frank, it was amazing,” Juliet said. She noticed a hint of color rising in Sienna’s cheeks. They shouldn’t have kissed, but there was no use lying about it.

  “It was, I’ll grant you that. But it certainly didn’t help matters. We both agreed. There’s too much at stake,” Sienna said.

  Juliet sighed and looked up at the ceiling. There was a small water spot on the drop tile that probably felt better than she did. “So, that’s it? We just pretend like nothing ever happened and go on with our lives? I’m not sure I know how to do that.”

  Smiling sadly, Sienna plucked a piece of lint off of the chair she was sitting in and watched it fall to the floor. “I’m not saying we pretend it never happened. We both know it did. And I can honestly tell you that I won’t forget that it happened any time soon. It was…well, you know. But anyway, we can try not to be uncomfortable around each other for the time being. That’s probably the best I’ve got.”

  “Me too. And my house will be ready for me in a few days, which will make it easier.” Juliet had a lump in her throat, as though their imaginary relationship was coming to an end, and she had to deal with the grief of it. Which, in a way, she supposed it had.

  “I’ll see you tonight,” Sienna said. She walked out the door and didn’t look back.

  * * *

  The very last thing Juliet wanted to do was go to a party where she had
to pretend to be happy. She rummaged through her drawers, even though they were covered with heavy plastic. The construction crew had covered as much as they could while her roof was still a gaping cavity. She was grateful they were almost finished. They hadn’t even brought up compensation, so Juliet assumed Will had taken care of it. She’d have to pay him back as soon as she received the insurance check. Although everything was so chaotic at the moment, Juliet had no idea when that would actually be.

  She selected a pair of black slacks and a silky lilac dress shirt. She had no idea how anyone else would be dressed, but she knew the chief wouldn’t want them to look too casual. He was strict about the department maintaining a calm and professional exterior no matter what was going on around them. At first, she’d thought he was being a hard-ass for no reason, but as time went on, she’d seen the merit of that concept firsthand. Impressions mattered, both in and out of uniform.

  Declan was going to the benefit with Will, though he had put up a fight about attending at all. Even with all of his teenage bravado, if Will gave him the “look,” Declan backed down pretty quickly. Juliet had to bring on the tears to achieve the same effect, which was wholly unfair.

  She drove in silence to the Salt Creek Country Club where the benefit was being held. She’d fiddled with the radio, listened to a little politics, got exasperated, played about three minutes of an audiobook she’d been trying to get in to, and finally landed on an eighties station playing “The Weakness in Me” by Joan Armatrading and decided she hated the radio and every song ever made.

  The parking lot was full by the time Juliet pulled in. She checked her phone and it was still ten minutes to seven. She thought she’d be early, but it seemed like the entire town had already arrived.

  The hall was impressive. There were hundreds of twinkling lights strung from the rafters, and bright flowers decorated the center of every table. A buffet station was set up near the dance floor, where a DJ was hooking up her equipment. The Salt Creek Fire Department had really outdone themselves.