by Jana DeLeon
“Now that we’ve decided on the rest of our lives,” she said, “I guess we need to call the police. The sooner we get this circus over with, the better. But I want to contact some more people as well. I’m going to call the FBI and the DA, and I want you to call Pete and your buddy with the security business and ask them to get over here right away.”
Luke looked confused. “Can I ask why?”
“Because Davies might have had a partner in this. I need your buddy to make copies of Warren’s drive for me. And I want Pete to witness everything along with the island police. If there are more dirty agents, I want to give them too many people to have to kill to clean up this mess.”
Luke stared. “That drive you showed Davies was the real thing? Where did you find it?”
She shook her head. “If I’m not mistaken, that’s a drive with pictures from a party at my restaurant last year. I didn’t even realize it was still in my purse until I looked for lip balm yesterday.”
“Then where is Patterson’s drive?”
She bent over and picked up the pot holder and placed it on the counter, then pushed on the edge where she’d removed the stitches until a tiny drive popped out.
“Your mother’s pot holder,” Luke said in amazement.
“I’d like to think that somehow she was watching over me.”
Luke put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed.
“I think she was.”
Nelly fanned herself with a magazine and shook her head as Bea tapped on the computer, putting in her inventory order. It was the day after the big showdown at Alayna’s cottage, and Bea had closed the bookstore so that she and Nelly didn’t have to dance around a conversation the FBI said they weren’t yet allowed to have. Half the town had already walked past the front door that morning, and Bea figured the rest would make it by that afternoon.
They had returned from their New Orleans trip at the same time the island police tore through town to answer Alayna’s 911 call. Bea had sensed something was off with Alayna the entire drive home and had taken years off Nelly’s life with her speed. She’d followed the cops to the cottage, and she’d almost fainted with fear and relief over what had transpired. Nelly had been so overwrought the paramedics had given her oxygen.
* * *
They’d both been going stir-crazy sitting in their homes trying to ignore phone calls, so finally Bea had suggested they pull the blinds and hide in the store where at least they could dillydally with inventory.
“When I saw that dead man on Alayna’s kitchen floor, I thought I was going to pass out,” Nelly said.
“Please, you weren’t even close to passing out until you laid eyes on that hot new paramedic.”
Nelly laughed. “Yeah, you got me there. Lord have mercy, when did they start making men who look like that? It was as if he stepped off a magazine page and into an ambulance.”
“He was awfully pretty, but so young.”
“When you’re our age, everyone is young.”
“Not Old Franklin.”
“Old Franklin played marbles with Jesus. He doesn’t count.”
Bea laughed. “I think Jesus kept all the marbles, because Old Franklin has clearly lost his. I bet Young Franklin is feeling older than his father these days.”
Nelly shook her head. “He is in a rough position. I really hope my body goes before my mind.”
“What the hell are you talking about? You haven’t been normal since I’ve known you.”
“I’m not strolling naked in public.”
“Not yet.”
Nelly put down the magazine and stared at Bea. “Hey, have you talked to Birdie lately?”
“Not since poker night. Why do you ask?”
“I saw her last night in her backyard watering flowers and we chatted some about what happened. She’d already gotten the gossip that’s going around and understood that I couldn’t give details. Mostly she just wanted to make sure that Alayna and Luke were all right and that you were holding up okay.”
Bea nodded. “I got a text from her checking in last night, but she said she didn’t want to bother me, just let her know if there was anything she could do. I did the ‘thanks but nothing at the moment’ thing and told her I’d see her soon and hopefully be able to talk openly about everything, but that was it. Did she say something last night that’s bothering you?”
“No. But she was off.”
“How do you mean?”
“Distracted. Don’t get me wrong, this business with Alayna is the scariest thing this island has ever seen short of a Cat 5, and she was clearly worried about the two of you. But I got the impression there was something else bothering her…something she wasn’t saying.”
Bea frowned as the image of Tom hugging the woman in New Orleans flashed across her mind. “Maybe something’s going on with Piper.”
Nelly nodded. “Maybe so, but that girl has always been so private I can’t imagine her telling her mother if anything was wrong.”
“But a mother still knows. It’s something in their voice.”
Nelly considered this for a moment. “You’re probably right. Birdie’s picked up on something and Piper is being her usual close-lipped self so it’s making her worry. Well, hopefully it’s nothing big and Birdie will work it out soon.”
“I’m sure she will,” Bea said and turned back to her computer.
But she wasn’t sure at all.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Two weeks later
* * *
With her phone, Alayna took some pictures of the space that would eventually be her new restaurant. She needed the pictures for her files, not only to capture the before and after, but to get the correct hue on the bricks for when she started choosing light fixtures and furniture. Then there was paint and flooring and artwork and the million other things she had to address. It was overwhelming and also very exciting.
Luke looked out the big front windows at the Gulf, then turned around and smiled at her. She couldn’t help smiling back. It had been two weeks since the showdown with Davies at her beach cottage. The week after had been filled with interviews with the FBI and the local DA, but this time, Alayna had Warren’s files and her phone recording to back her up. No one even gave a hint of suggestion that she and Luke were anything but the wronged parties.
And those files had contained exactly what Luke thought they would. His security buddy made a copy and cracked the encryption on the files, so that they could see what the FBI was seeing. It was all bank account numbers and passwords to offshore accounts. A quick check revealed the balances in the accounts totaled over a hundred million. More than enough for Agent Davies to get away and disappear.
If he’d been successful.
The FBI was being tight-lipped about their investigation into Agent Davies—no surprise there—but the DA had assured her that once they started poking around into Davies’s side interests, they had accumulated plenty of evidence against him, including his role in Warren’s escape from custody. They’d also found information on the man Davies had hired to get to Brad and had arrested him trying to cross the border into Mexico. Between Davies’s attempt to kill Alayna and Carrie Winston calling in favors with every senator and congressman her family knew, the FBI had put every available man on tracking down Brad’s killer, and Alayna had no doubt he’d spend the rest of his life in prison.
“This restaurant is going to be so great,” Luke said. “I can see it all just like you described. What happens next? Zoning?”
“No. We’re lucky on that one. All the Main Street properties are zoned for any type of commercial business with a few exceptions.”
“Exceptions?”
“Pawnshops, strip clubs, that sort of thing.”
He nodded. “So anything that isn’t family-friendly and doesn’t suit the island vibe. When is the kitchen equipment going to arrive?”
“I have some movers bringing it tomorrow. The contractors will have to move it around a bit while doing the build-ou
t, but it was too good a deal to pass up.”
He turned to face her and gave her a soft kiss. “I have some news of my own.”
Her breath caught in her throat because she knew Luke had been on the base the entire week, talking with Pete about his medical release and who knew who else. Had he made a decision about his career?
“I’ve been cleared for service again,” he said. “Just not with the SEALs. I’ve talked with several of the commanding officers on base and have decided to take the trainer position. So I’m staying with the Navy and will be permanently stationed here.”
Alayna’s pulse ticked up, and her face almost hurt from the ear-splitting smile she wore.
He matched her grin. “I take it that means you’re happy?”
“I can’t believe how happy I am. When I came back to the island, I never thought I’d ever be normal again. Happiness wasn’t even on my list. I think, sometimes, that I thought I didn’t deserve to be happy because of what happened. But being here, I was finally able to get past that. I didn’t have anything to do with Warren’s actions, and I’m not going to feel guilty any longer for not realizing what he was doing.”
“Considering the FBI didn’t know what a supervising agent was doing, I think it’s a good idea to cut yourself a break.”
She laughed. “I hadn’t thought about it that way, but you’re right. If Davies could play the entire FBI, then a chef didn’t stand a chance against a very seasoned and intelligent criminal.”
“Ultimately, the chef proved to be the smarter one. And speaking of the devils, have you heard anything else from the FBI?”
“Not for a couple days now, but they told me last time that they had everything they needed and to call if I needed something. I took that to mean they were done with me.”
Luke put his hands together like he was praying and looked up.
She laughed again and playfully grabbed his hands. “You keep doing things like that and Old Franklin sees, he might get ideas about your career.”
He stared at her in dismay. “Now, why in the world would you bring that man up? I’m here relishing a glorious future, in a beautiful place, with the woman who cooks food I could only dream about, and now all I can see is that unfortunate shirt of Pete’s in an even more unfortunate position.”
She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a sexy kiss.
“I can probably change your thinking,” she said.
“Are you offering to cook?” he asked, then laughed as he dodged off.
She swatted him on the rear as he hurried away, and her heart skipped a beat when he looked over his shoulder at her and grinned.
She’d found real.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you loved Tempest Island. Do you want to know more about the island and its residents? Are you curious about the mystery brewing between Tom and Birdie? Will the Whitmores cause problems for Alayna and her new restaurant? Look for Adrift, coming soon. To receive notifications when new books are available, sign up for my mailing list on my website janadeleon.com.
* * *
Emma Turner has spent years running, hiding, dodging…limiting her short stays to bigger cities where she could easily avoid questions and get lost in the crowd. But when she steps onto Tempest Island, something changes. The tiny island speaks to her in a way no other place ever has, and over the past eight years, she’s been to plenty of them. Suddenly, she finds herself breaking one of her many rules and applying for a job at the Island Surf Shop.
Since his wife’s death a year ago, Mark Phillips has done the best he can to put life back together for himself and his five-year-old daughter, Lily. Now, he needs to turn some attention to his somewhat neglected business so that he doesn’t have to worry about their future. Emma Turner has all the qualifications he’s looking for, but the beautiful brunette is also keeping secrets.
And the life she left behind years ago is about to catch up with her.
* * *
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