Killer Summer

by Lynda Curnyn

  I guess I hadn’t counted on that being his only passion. After all, there was a time when he’d felt just as inspired by me.

  When Edge was born, you could say it changed everything. Edge was the fashion of the street, spawned by music and hip-hop culture. We even had an early success when Missy Elliot sported one of our samples on a music video. And though I had never seen myself as a part of this business, I felt some sense of destiny when Edge came into being. The feeling all my dreams were right in my own backyard. If I wasn’t a rock star, I felt like one when I took the reins of Edge.

  Ironically, you could say that, in some ways, Edge gave new life to my marriage just as much as it destroyed it. Tom and I shared a common passion to make Edge a success. Now our nights were filled with strategies about how to take this younger market by storm. Champagne toasts at each success and whispered confidences about how to make it all happen.

  Of course, my days at Edge only made me aware of how little I really knew about the industry. Sage never failed to remind me of that deficit. For every idea I had, she had a better one. For every retailer I brought in using Tom’s connections, Sage was the one who sealed the deal.

  It hurt to see Tom take Sage’s side time and time again, whenever the heat rose up between us and we turned to him as a mediator. Hurt to realize that outside of my solid budgeting sense, I had little to offer in terms of creative inspiration. But I tried, Lord knows I tried. Which only earned me Sage’s animosity.

  But what Sage didn’t know was that there wouldn’t have even been an Edge if it hadn’t been for me. Edge was my baby. My first child with the man I loved.

  * * *

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Nick

  Who says I don’t have a conscience? I just hope I don’t have to live with it.

  There’s nothing like waking up to the feel of the ocean breeze in your face. Breathing deep, I opened my eyes. And nearly swallowed my tongue.

  “Maggie?”

  I sat up, glancing quickly at Tom’s bed, which looked like it hadn’t even been slept in, then turned my gaze once more to the apparition in my doorway.

  I needed to lay off the dope, I thought, shutting my eyes. Only to open them again and see Maggie still standing there. Wearing a blue silk robe and a smile that could only mean one thing.

  “Uh, Maggie, what are you—”

  She laughed as she approached the bed.“Thought you were rid of me, did you?”

  I shrank back against the headboard.“No! I mean, that is—well, yeah. You’re supposed to be dead.”

  “Thought you were going to run that label all on your own, did you? Squandering my money—”

  “I didn’t squander your money. It was Les, I swear. He’s a fuckup.”

  “Shhhh,” she said, sitting on the bed next to me, one hand going to my face.

  God, she felt real. I looked at her eyes, which seemed bluer than I remembered. Even her hair looked longer, almost wild. And her mouth…

  Before I knew what was happening, that mouth was on mine, her tongue moving so hotly against mine, I would swear to it that Maggie was very much alive. I mean, a ghost couldn’t give me a woody like the one I was growing right now.

  “Make love to me, Nick,” she said, sliding out of her robe.

  My eyes went from her breasts, small but firm—not bad—to her face, then to the door, which stood half-open.“What about Tom?”

  She laughed, pushing me down on the bed and pulling down the sheet to stare at my erection. “I see you’ve been waiting for me.”

  I looked down, surprised to discover that I was naked. I never slept in Tom’s room naked. Not if I could help it, anyway.

  Then all my thoughts flowed south as she climbed on top of me and began to move. And to moan. God, I loved a screamer. Who would have thought Maggie was a screamer?

  But when she leaned in close, her breath hot against my ear, I realized that wasn’t a moan I was hearing.

  “You’re gonna pay,” she ground out, over and over again.

  Suddenly the door flew open and I pulled away from her, just in time to see Tom standing over me. With what looked like a giant…fish hook?

  “Ahhhhhhhhhhh!”

  “Nick!” came Francesca’s voice,practically in my ear. Oh, Francesca. Only she could save me, I thought, opening my eyes to find myself staring into her sleepy blue eyes. I blinked at her as she smiled at me. “You must have been having a nightmare.”

  Jesus. What a nightmare. “I guess so,” I muttered, dropping my head back to the pillow with relief and staring up at the purple ceiling fan, which must have been the cause of that “ocean breeze” I’d been feeling.

  Purple ceiling fan? Shit, I had spent the night in Francesca’s room.

  I sat up, spotted Francesca’s bra and panties on the floor.“I gotta get outta here,” I said, scrambling from the bed.

  She grabbed my arm. “Relax. It’s only ten-thirty at night. We must have fallen asleep after that marathon fuck session.” She bit my shoulder. “You were amazing, by the way.”

  A memory floated through my brain of me and Francesca, clinging to one another between the sheets as a Britney Spears song belted out from the CD player.

  Holy fuck. The nightmare clearly wasn’t over. I think I might have had the biggest orgasm in my life. To the tune of “Oops… I Did It Again.”

  “We gotta get outta here,” I said, leaping up from the bed and reaching for my jeans.

  “What for? I don’t think my dad’s even home yet.”

  Then I remembered where I was supposed to be tonight. Watching a band at The Inn with Sage and Zoe. And though I wasn’t sure what kind of band The Inn had to offer, it had to be better than Britney Spears.

  Mother of God, what was happening to me?

  “C’mon, Francesca, get dressed. We need to get to The Inn right away.”

  Before I lost my mind. Because between my nightmare and the nightmare that was Britney Spears, I had to be losing it.

  Besides, knowing Sage, she’d probably kill me if I didn’t show up.

  * * *

  Chapter Forty

  Zoe

  I need a life preserver for my heart.

  “Myles, it’s me,“ I said into my cell phone.

  “Hey, Zoe, where are you?”

  “Out in front of your house.”

  A shadow moved past the windows, and then Myles appeared at the front door.

  “What are you doing out there?” he asked, looking at me through the screen.

  “Cracking up.”

  He opened the door, closing his cell phone and pocketing it as he stepped outside.

  Concern filled his eyes once he stood before me. “Jesus, Zoe, what’s wrong? You look like you just lost your best friend.”

  “I think I may have done just that.”

  “What happened?”

  I blew out a sigh. Then told him everything. How I came to believe that Maggie’s killer was her lover, not her husband. How I had first zeroed in on Donnie Havens, only to learn that Donnie wasn’t even on Fire Island that night. How I had then practically accused the man Sage was half in love with of murdering his best friend’s wife.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if Sage never speaks to me again,” I said. “She was pretty pissed off. Accused me of wrecking her relationship with Vince and then stormed out of The Inn as if the place was on fire.”

  “Well, if Vince is guilty, it sounds like you might have done her a favor.”

  I looked at him. “That’s the worst of it. As soon as Sage left, I ran back down to the dock to see Chad. He practically threw the dock registration papers at me when I saw him.” I gave Myles a halfhearted smile. “I think he was afraid of me since I threatened him earlier today. But when I checked the records for both the private slips and the public slips, I realized Vince’s name wasn’t on either one.”

  “That doesn’t mean Vince wasn’t here that night. He could have taken the ferry.”

  “Donnie could have, too,
for that matter. But I can’t prove it.” I dropped my gaze. “Now I’m back just where I started. With nothing.”

  Myles grabbed my chin, lifting my face to look up at him once more. “Not with nothing. You found enough to figure out that Maggie didn’t go to the market that night. That she possibly went to see someone. I mean, you’ve managed to convince me that something was up. I’m starting to wonder, too, if what happened that night was really an accident.”

  I studied his eyes, feeling warmed by the idea that someone at least was starting to trust my instincts. And Myles, of all people. But the feeling was only momentary. I sighed. “Still, all the evidence is starting to seem like just what it is—a whole lot of nothing. Nothing but some stupid nagging feeling about that night that won’t go away.”

  Myles smiled at me, his eyes soft with understanding. “You know what you need?”

  “A Valium?” I asked, not even able to crack a smile at my own humorless joke.

  He shook his head. “You need to return to the scene of the crime.

  “I don’t know what we’re doing here,” I said, once we stepped onto the cool sand and I saw the ocean rolling out in foamy waves before us.

  “Like I said, returning to the scene of the crime,” Myles replied, grabbing my hand and leading me down the beach.

  “I don’t see the point,” I said, pulling back on his hand until he released his grip.

  He stopped, turning to look at me. “The point is to try and reassemble what happened that night. It’s an investigation technique. My dad used to do it all the time.”

  Despite the glimmer of hopefulness I saw in his eyes, I couldn’t seem to rouse myself. “Aren’t your housemates going to wonder where you went?” I asked. “I mean, surely Haley will wonder.”

  He shrugged, his gaze moving to the ocean. “She went out. They all went out. To do the bar scene over in Ocean Beach.”

  I studied his face. “Why didn’t you go?”

  He turned to look at me again. “You know me, Zoe. I’m not into that whole bar scene.”

  I smiled in the darkness. Yes, I did know him. He was just like me. A homebody.

  So why weren’t we home together?

  You’re together now. Be happy for a change, an inner voice chided. But it occurred to me that I didn’t know the first thing about being happy. Probably because I was too busy thinking about what made people unhappy. Homelessness. Stolen dogs. Premature death.

  Still, I walked beside him until we reached that lonely stretch of beach where this whole nightmare began. Turning to the horizon, I saw the moon hovering high above the crashing waves, felt the breeze upon my face, and found that, for the first time all summer, I wasn’t thinking of Maggie at all.

  “Pretty romantic,” I said, then wished I could take back the words. I didn’t want Myles to think I was pining for him or anything.

  But even if he wondered where my mind had gone, he kept his own on the matter at hand. “Now you’re on the right track. I bet the night Maggie died wasn’t so different from tonight. Perfect for a stroll on the beach with someone she cared about. It was pretty hot that night, if I’m remembering it right.“

  I nodded. “It was.”

  “So put yourself in Maggie’s place.”

  I shivered, watching the tide move up the shore where her body once lay. “I don’t think I want to do that.”

  Myles smiled. “I mean before she died. Tell me what you think happened that night.”

  I looked at him. “Well, I can’t be one hundred percent sure, but I think she went to see her lover. Whoever that was.”

  “Okay, what did she do? Go to his house first? Meet him at the beach?”

  “Well, she made a phone call to Donnie Havens at close to seven-thirty, but she could have called him from anywhere.”

  “Assume for a minute that she was still home at that point, maybe getting ready to meet her lover—whoever he was. She’s all excited to see him. Puts on a nice dress. Spends like an hour on her hair, her makeup.”

  I smiled. “This is the beach, Myles. No one spends that much time on their hair and makeup at the beach. In fact, I never do.”

  “Okay, so she pulls it all together in a half hour. Then what does she do?”

  “Well, she certainly didn’t finish her sauce. It was still half-made on the stove by the time Tom got home.” I frowned. “That’s another thing—why did she run out like that?”

  “Maybe he came to her and they left quickly, afraid that Tom might come home.”

  I turned to look at Maggie’s Dream, easily spotting the lights twinkling at the far end of the beach. “All right, so he comes to see her and they go for a walk on the beach. That would probably be about sunset. Maybe after.”

  “Let’s assume it was after. Now what happened?”

  I smiled. “Well, they probably kissed a little bit. I’m guessing the mood was playful. Or something. Why else would they have gone skinny-dipping?”

  “So they take off their clothes and go in,” Myles said. “What happened next?” sighed. “That’s exactly the problem. I don’t know what happened next. How Maggie went from skinny-dipping to floating in the tide.“

  “Maybe it was an accident,” Myles offered.

  “That’s possible. Maybe she got caught in the tide and he couldn’t save her.” I looked at him. “But wouldn’t he go for help?”

  “Not if he didn’t want to be found out by Tom.”

  I shook my head. “I’m sorry, but I’m having a hard time believing anyone would leave someone they loved to…to die.”

  “What if he had a lot to lose? I mean, if it was Vince or Don-nie, they might have risked their jobs.”

  “Still, Myles, I can’t believe—”

  “Okay, okay. Let’s backtrack for a minute. Maybe they were fighting before they got in the water. Maybe he tried to break it off and she got angry.”

  “But then why would she go skinny-dipping with him?” I said, throwing my hands in the air. “See, I knew there was no point to this. There’s no way we’ll ever know what really happened that night. What was going on in Maggie’s head—or his, for that matter.”

  “There’s only one way we can possibly find out,” Myles said, yanking his T-shirt over his head and tossing it on the beach.

  “What are you doing?” I said, alarm ringing through me as he reached for the fly on his shorts.

  “Returning to the scene of the crime,” he reminded me, sliding down his shorts and kicking them to the side.“C’mon, what are you waiting for? Get undressed.”

  My eyes widened.“I’m not going in there,” I said, glancing nervously at the ocean, vast and dark, as it rolled toward us.

  “Why not?” he said, his hand moving to the waist of his boxers.

  “It’s cold?” I said weakly, watching as the boxers came down. I bit my lip, trying not to stare. Not that I had time to stare, because Myles was suddenly off like a shot, racing toward the water, his tanned skin pale in the moonlight.

  “Last one in is a rotten egg!” he yelled, diving into the tide and disappearing under the dark water.

  “Dammit, Myles,” I said, racing to the tide line in a panic and then coming to a dead stop when Myles popped up again, a smile on his face.“C’mon in, Zoe, the water’s beautiful.”

  “I don’t want to.”

  “It’s not cold. I swear.”

  A foamy warmth washed over my feet, verifying the truth of his words. Not that that made me want to go in. “I’m scared of the ocean,” I said, feeling like the big baby I was the moment the words left my mouth.

  “Scared? C’mon, Zoe,” Myles said, rising up out of the water to flex his muscles at me.“I’ll protect you,” he said in a deep voice. Then he laughed. “Just come in. You’re missing all the fun.”

  It was those words, more than anything else, that had me pulling off my T-shirt. I was so tired of being the one pulling the plug on every game.

  I slid down my shorts, tossing them behind me with my shirt. But
when I reached for the clasp on my bra, I felt a touch of worry again.

  And I knew it wasn’t so much being in the water that scared me now but being in the water with Myles. Naked.

  I hadn’t been naked with Myles in a long time.

  Too long, I thought, whipping off my bra and sliding down my panties before I could change my mind.

  I stepped into the water, splashing past the crashing waves before they toppled me over. Then I dunked down, probably out of modesty more than anything else.

  “You’re right,” I said, swimming closer to him. “The water is beautiful.”

  “Would I lie to you?” he asked, looking at me across the bobbing waves.

  “No,” I said, studying his wet, spiky eyelashes, those eyes I knew so well. “You wouldn’t.”

  His gaze softened. “Come here,” he said, reaching for me.

  I hesitated, studying his face. Until suddenly I wasn’t seeing his face at all, but scrambling madly as a wave crashed over me.

  Darkness engulfed me and water filled my mouth as I struggled back to the top, panicking as the ocean pulled at me, until I felt Myles’s arms close around me as we popped back to the surface.

  “I got you,” he said, pulling me close.

  He certainly did, I thought, breathing hard as his chest made contact with mine.

  “Come on,” he said, gently guiding me out farther.

  “Myles, I don’t want to go—”

  “Just a little farther. We need to get past the breaking point.”

  I might be close to that point already, I thought, feeling his body slide against mine in the water.

  Finally he stopped moving, his arms circling me.

  “So,” he said softly, his gaze on mine.“You’re in the water. With the man you love. Love so much, in fact, you threw off all your clothes and dived in after him,” he continued, a smile touching his lips. “What happens now?”